Research Faculty (in alphabetical order)
Dr. Nicole Etter My lab, Orofacial Physiology and Perceptual Analysis Lab (OPPAL), primarily focuses on alterations in speech motor control across the adult life span. Speech motor control theories identify the bidirectional and reciprocal influences of movement and perception. Successful and accurate speech production requires people to be able to integrate multiple streams of sensory information. When talking (speech production or movement), speakers are constantly monitoring their speech accuracy for both what they hear (auditory) and how it feels (somatosensory). Current research in my lab uses objective measurements of lip and tongue point-pressure tactile sensation and speech samples to characterize the speech sensorimotor control relationship as well as identify how this relationship changes with age, disease, or in response to training.
The overarching goal of my research is to enhance speech communication in individuals with dysarthria secondary to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). To do this, I adopt a comprehensive approach that examines the relationships among 1) movements of articulators such as the tongue and jaw (“articulatory kinematics”), 2) sound signals, (“speech acoustics”), and 3) speech intelligibility (how well listeners understand speech). Through my research, I am working towards developing an evidence-based intervention approach to improve intelligibility in individuals with dysarthria.
My main research focus is on how the interactive nature of typical communication supports speech and language processing for the individual. Most of the time, this means that my research consists of having two people interact with one another in structured tasks that allow me to observe how they adjust their speech perception and production in real time. However, I also focus on understanding how listeners adjust to difficult-to-understand or unfamiliar speech through perceptual learning. In these kinds of studies, participants are not interacting directly with another person. My main focus in these studies is to understand how naturally occurring variability and stability in speech can support perceptual learning.
Dr. Robb directs the Experimental Phonetics Lab. This lab is focused on normal and disordered aspects of speech sound production across the lifespan. Ongoing research projects occurring within the lab include examination of the phonetic and rhythmic complexity associated with fluent and stuttered speech, as well as the role of infant crying and related biological and environmental influences on the acquisition of speech. The influence of second language acquisition on speech motor control is also emphasized.
Dr. Navin Viswanathan (Coordinator)
My research focuses on understanding Speech Perception and Production within the general framework of Perception, Action and Cognition. Broadly, I attempt to develop techniques to study spoken language processes in ecologically typical conditions of language use. The central question of my interest is how listeners achieve stable speech perception despite a widely varying speech signal. Here is a link to my lab website in case you want to learn more.
Current Graduate Students
Tifani Biro (PhD Student, Communication Sciences & Disorders; Primary Advisor: Navin Viswanathan). Tifani is currently completing her PhD in Communication Sciences & Disorders at Penn State. Tifani graduated from the Villanova University in 2016 with a Master’s of Science in Psychology. At Villanova, she completed thesis research with Dr. Joseph Toscano, studying how experimental environment influences phonetic convergence (changing one’s speech sound to match another’s) among interlocutors. Tifani’s current research expands upon this work and focuses on how experimenters can increase task naturalness in psycholinguistic experiments using virtual systems. She is also interested in computational modeling and cognitive neuroscience.
Tiana Cowan (PhD Student, Communication Sciences & Disorders; Primary Advisor: Carol Miller; completing a lab rotation with Annie Olmstead)
Nina Romo (PhD Student, Communication Sciences & Disorders; Primary Advisor: Mike Robb; completing a lab rotation with Jimin Lee) My research interests include physiological and acoustic aspects of healthy and disordered speech. Following my undergraduate and Master’s degrees at the University of York, I worked with my colleagues Prof. Nick Miller and Dr. Amanda Cardoso on a project determining segmental features which differentiate between cases of Foreign Accent Syndrome, with either organic or functional etiology. Currently, I am working with Dr. Mike Robb and Dr. Jimin Lee on a project investigating the relative timing features of speech in individuals with dysarthria secondary to ALS, and the way in which phonetic complexity of target words may further impact this.
Brittany Williams ( PhD Student, Communication Sciences & Disorders; Primary Advisor: Navin Viswanathan). My research interests include speech perception and production; audiovisual speech; and psycholinguistics. Currently, my research focuses on the effect adverse listening conditions (e.g., background noise, competing accented speech, and differing spatial locations) have on speech perception. I aim to identify how listeners use linguistic and nonlinguistic cues to process speech. This will aid in our understanding of how individuals are efficient and resilient in perceiving speech despite variability in the acoustic signal. For more information about me, please visit my website.
Janice Chen (Masters Student, Communication Sciences & Disorders; Primary Advisor: Annie Olmstead). My research interests include speech perception and production as well as psycholinguistics. I am interested in examining how speech of those with communication disorders can be better understood by unfamiliar listeners. In the future, I aspire to apply my research knowledge through evidence-based practice as a speech language pathologist.
Affiliates
Eileen Kowalski (Clinical Assistant Professor). My clinical interests include: early intervention, child articulation and phonology, childhood apraxia of speech and motor speech disorders, child language, literacy and auditory processing disorders. Additional interest in the area of clinical supervision and training of student clinicians.
Jin Zhao (Visiting Scholar, Shandong Agricultural University, China)
My research interests include speech perception and production; and second language acquisition. In order to better guide my Chinese students in English study and give them some feasible advice, my current research focus is how Shandong dialects impact the acquisition of English of those learners from Shandong dialectal zones. It has come to an agreement that the negative transfer of native language influences the English acquisition process in a great degree, both on the segmental and suprasegmental level. I take Shandong dialect as an example, and investigate how different Shandong dialects influence the learning of English from those two aspects. Then corresponding measures should be found in order to help student release the negative impacts of their dialects, pronounce English sounds correctly and enhance their consciousness of stress and intonation.