PhD Program Hearing and Speech Sciences

The chamber is a shared department resource and focuses on how normal hearing and hearing-impaired individuals perform in tasks involving sounds (speech and other auditory signals) coming from different positions in space. Example areas include sound localization, auditory motion perception, and informational masking.

Principal Investigator: Troy Hackett, Ph.D.

This laboratory combines anatomical, neurophysiological, and genomic techniques to characterize structural and functional changes in the auditory system associated with development, hearing loss, aging, and other neuropathology.

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The lab conducts and disseminates research studies designed to examine how behavioral and neural function may be linked in people with autism and related conditions and, in turn, how this information can be applied to help guide the development and evaluation of novel forms of intervention. One focus of the work is on subgroups that tend to respond poorly to existing interventions (e.g. minimally verbal, challenging behavior, comorbid psychiatric or medical conditions).

Principal Investigator: Tiffany Woynarski, Ph.D.

Seeks to identify brain and behavioral factors that (a) explain individual differences, (b) predict differential response to treatment, and (c) explain how or why the treatment works in children with neurodevelopmental  disorders.

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Principal Investigator: C. Melanie Schuele, Ph.D.

This lab is devoted to the study of typical and atypical language and literacy acquisition and the study of the effectiveness of language-literacy interventions. Specific areas of focus include complex syntax acquisition, early reading development, language, and literacy assessment, and phonological awareness.

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Principal Investigator: Jena McDaniel, Ph.D.

This lab is devoted to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of language intervention for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, children with autism, and children with other developmental disabilities.

Principal Investigator: Angela Yarnell Bonino, Ph.D.

This lab investigates auditory development and hearing assessment for children who have developmental disabilities. Research focuses on identifying gaps in clinical assessment practices, understanding factors that affect behavioral testing performance, and designing strategies that can be incorporated into clinical practice to improve care.

Principal Investigator: Stephen Camarata, Ph.D.

Dr. Camarata’s lab is devoted to the development and validation of speech, language, and social communication assessments and  interventions for children with primary language impairment, speech disorders, children with Down syndrome, children with autism, and deaf children with cochlear implants.

Principal Investigator: Rene Gifford, Ph.D.

Drs. Gifford & Holder’s research focuses on understanding and improving speech perception and basic auditory function for adult and pediatric cochlear implant recipients. More specifically, Dr. Gifford is interested in the study of auditory perception, spatial hearing, and binaural development for children and adults using combined electric and acoustic stimulation (EAS).

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Principal Investigator: Melissa Duff, Ph.D.

This lab is devoted to understanding the cognitive and neural bases of language and communication, with a particular focus on the role of memory and the hippocampus, as well as the recovery and long-term outcomes of acquired brain injury.

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Principal Investigator: Todd Ricketts, Ph.D.

The Hearing Aid Research Lab is focused around improving the overall listening experience of individuals with hearing challenges.

With continuing advances in service delivery models, advanced data processing methods and processing including machine learning based solutions, our current work focuses on individualizing hearing assistive solutions, amplification selection and adjustment; optimizing hearing aid related services with a strong focus on cost effectiveness; and the evaluation and design of signal processing schemes for hearing aids and assistive technologies.

Principal investigator: Robin Jones, Ph.D.

Dr. Jones’s research is interdisciplinary and focuses on the speech-language, cognitive, emotional, and genetic contributions to the development and persistence of stuttering as well as the translational of this work to diagnosis and treatment. His lab uses a broad range of approaches and measures including caregiver report, behavioral, psychophysiological, and biological measures to study these processes.

Principal Investigator: Erin M. Picou, Ph.D.

This laboratory is devoted to understanding the effects of hearing loss and hearing aid processing on listening effort and emotion perception in adults and school-aged children.

Principal Investigator: Benjamin Hornsby, Ph.D.

Dr. Hornsby’s research focuses on the perceptual consequences of hearing loss, and how these consequences affect speech recognition, communication and benefit from hearing aids and cochlear implants. His current work examines relationships between speech processing deficits, cognitive processing demands and listening-related fatigue in adults and children with hearing loss.

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Principal Investigator: Cara Donohue, Ph.D.

This lab aims to improve clinical care, patient outcomes, and quality of life for individuals suffering from swallowing disorders by 1) understanding the underlying mechanisms of swallowing impairments that occur secondary to respiratory and neurological diseases, to then 2) develop sensitive screening techniques, accurate assessment methods, and effective treatment approaches for individuals with impaired pulmonary, cough, and swallow function and to align them with the mechanisms of action of these diseases.

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Principal Investigator: Ramnarayan Ramachandran, Ph.D.

The lab investigates the perception of sound and its underlying neuronal encoding in normal hearing animals and animals with hearing impairments. Auditory perceptions are assessed in realistic environments where there are both relevant sounds and distractors.

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Principal Investigator: Michael de Riesthal, Ph.D.

Our research focuses on the interaction of speech, language, and cognitive-communication disorders that result from neurological injury and disease. Our lab is integrated into the interdisciplinary Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis clinic, Huntington’s disease clinic, frontotemporal dementia clinic, and Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. These collaborative relationships with our colleagues in neurology allow us to generate clinically relevant questions that may be addressed in a clinical setting.

Principal Investigators: Daniel J. Romero, Ph.D.

The SPIN Lab investigates vestibular function across the lifespan and its clinical applications in the diagnosis and management of vestibular and balance disorders. The lab's research focuses on cortical-vestibular interactions and how these mechanisms influence balance, vestibular function, and dizziness in both healthy individuals and clinical populations. Areas of study include vestibular electrophysiology using vestibular evoked potentials and EEG, age-related changes in balance, factors contributing to fall risk, development and cortical modulation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, and vestibular-related outcomes following traumatic brain injury. 

The Lab investigates speech motor control and execution. Research efforts are predominantly directed towards the identification of the articulatory mechanisms that underlie speech clarity/intelligibility changes in healthy speakers and speakers with dysarthria.

Principal Investigator: Emily Kimball, Ph.D.

The Voice Biology Lab focuses on the biological and physiological basis for vocal fold health and pathology. We are particularly interested in understanding the specific cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the vocal folds maintain their ability to vibrate freely. Along with this goal, we also seek to understand the circumstances that ultimately lead to the development of vocal fold lesions like nodules and polyps, which cause disordered voice production.

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