To learn more about specific research labs within the Department, select from the list at left. Note: some lab websites are large and lead you to external links. After reading the material, simply close the browser window to return to this page.
Research
opportunities for students
Undergraduate
Research Practicum:
This is a formal course registration (3:096) that is available to any student.
It involves assisting faculty with their research and has at least two purposes.
From the student's point of view it provides a unique opportunity to learn
about research in our discipline. From the faculty member's point of view,
it provides welcome assistance in his/her research.
Please note that this is not intended to give students the opportunity to pursue independent study. If this is your goal, then registration in 3:186 (Problems) is more appropriate.
To Register for this course, go to the Departmental Office (Room 119 WJSHC) and ask to see the 3:096 notebook. It contains a list of professors, a description of their research projects, and what is expected of students who participate through 3:096. You can either contact a professor directly or fill out an application indicating your preferences. If you choose the latter, a professor will contact you. You must have a professor's permission to register for 3:096.
Graduate Research: Research is a critical part of graduate education. Research carried out by the faculty advances knowledge in general and allows new facts and ideas to be brought to the classroom and clinic. Student research is encouraged at both the master's and the doctoral degree levels.
Active research programs exist at The University of Iowa in all major areas of speech and hearing. Individual laboratories are maintained in the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center for the study of auditory physiology, auditory rehabilitation, clinical experimental and medical audiology, language disorders and intervention, neurology of speech and language, psychoacoustics, psycholinguistics, speech physiology, stuttering, and voice acoustics and biomechanics.
copyright, The University of Iowa (2008). All rights reserved.
Auditory
Physiology Laboratory
Charles Miller, Ph.D., Paul Abbas, Ph.D., Directors
The Auditory
Physiology Laboratory, located in the Medical Research Center, Department
of Otolaryngology uses both animal models and computer models to better understand
how cochlear implants work. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has
well-respected clinical program in cochlear implants and our work assists
that effort and cochlear implant research in general.
In the traditional implant candidate, the receptor organ of hearing –
the cochlea – has been damaged and can no longer detect sounds. Cochlear
implants provide deaf people with hearing sensations by bypassing the damaged
cochlear receptors and directly exciting the fibers of the auditory nerve
by means of electrical currents. These currents are provided by an array of
stimulating electrodes that implanted inside the cochlea by the surgeon. Electronic
circuits that are part of the cochlear implant convert sound in the environment
to patterns of electrical pulses that can be perceived by the implant user.
Our work strives to understand the “hows” and “whys” of
cochlear-implant functionality. We do so by studying how the auditory nerve
responds to the kinds of electric stimuli that are used in clinical cochlear-implant
devices. We use both simple stimuli (say, single current pulses) to study
basic neurophysiologic responses (such as threshold and dynamic range) and
more complex stimuli that more closely mimic the stimulation provided by a
clinical device. Thus, our research goals include providing knowledge about
the basic physiology of the auditory nerve and understanding how the complex
stimuli used by clinical devices could be improved to provide more effective
stimulation of the auditory nerve.
Two on-going research programs in our lab are aimed at understanding (1) how
ears with some amount of residual acoustic hearing process a combination of
acoustic and electric stimuli. how the kinds of stimuli used in clinical devices
excite the auditory nerve and (2) how the auditory responds to the kinds of
stimuli that are used in clinical devices.
The first research program responds to the clinical trend of implanting individuals
with some amount of residual acoustic sensitivity. Many of these patients
do very well with an implant, although it is poorly understood how acoustic
and electric stimuli combine and are processed by the auditory system. One
research program in our lab examines how combined acoustic and electric stimuli
are processed by the auditory nerve.
Assistive
Devices Laboratory
Richard Hurtig, Ph.D., Director
The Assistive Devices Laboratory is located on the third floor of the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center and is used to design prototype augmentative/assistive devices. The laboratory has developed prototype systems for individuals with multiple impairments. These systems are based on lap-top computers or dedicated microprocessors and provide speech output and environment control. Research in the laboratory includes development of new devices and software as well as the evaluation of alternative systems for speech synthesis, use of digitized real speech, alternative input controls, and interfaces with external devices and mobility aids. Students registered in the course Designing Assistive Devices are given the opportunity to participate in laboratory projects to design systems for particular individuals.
Cochlear
Implant Electrophysiology Laboratory
Paul Abbas, Ph.D., Carolyn J Brown, Ph.D., Directors
The Human Electrophysiology
Laboratory, located in the Pomerantz Family Pavilion, Department of Otolaryngology.
Experiments in the laboratory focus on the measurement of electrically evoked
potentials from the auditory system in patients who have a cochlear implant.
Individuals with cochlear implants exhibit a wide range of performance with
the device. Peripheral measures such as the electrically evoked compound action
potential (ECAP) recorded using telemetry systems incorporated into commercial
cochlear implants have become important tools for both initial programming
and monitoring of young children. We are also doing studies measuring cortically
evoked responses to stimulation through the implant. Our goal is to use the
results of such studies to more fully characterize the differences we observe
across individuals and use that information to assist with clinical decision
making, inform candidate selection and influence the ways the speech processor
is programmed in order to maximize performance for an individual user.
Our work has focused on the use of objective measures to program cochlear
implants in pediatric populations. We have also done a number of studies examining
issues such as channel interaction among stimulated electrodes as well as
studies of adaptation or refractory properties in the neural response. We
are studying the variations across individuals but also have focused on changes
that occur over time with continued implant use in both pediatric as well
as geriatric populations. Finally while much of our work is in patients who
use standard cochlear implants, we also use these techniques in new populations
of cochlear implant users such as those patients who use the Hybrid cochlear
implant system and patients who receive bilateral cochlear implants.
Clinical
Audiology Laboratory
Ruth
Bentler, Ph.D., Director
The
Clinical Audiology Laboratory is located on the third floor of the Wendell
Johnson Speech and Hearing Center. The primary focus of research in this laboratory
involves efficacy of new signal processing designs for persons with hearing
impairment. Current experiments include validation of a fitting strategy for
nonlinear circuits that is based on suprathreshold measures, and assessment
of many of the features of programmable hearing aids including the remote
control, multiple memory, multiple band-pass, and compression parameters.
Glottal
Aerodynamics Laboratory
Fariborz Alipour, PhD, Director
The Glottal Aerodynamics Laboratory, located in the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center, is designed and equipped with facilities to study aerodynamics and acoustics of phonation using various models.
These
models are:
1.
Excised Larynx Model with mounting capability for pig, sheep, canine
and cow larynges and the potential to study many aspects of phonation including
pitch and amplitude, glottal resistance, vocal efficiency, asymmetric phonation,
and other measures.
2. Physical Model for the study of static and dynamic glottal flow,
acoustical effects of the prototype vocal tracts, velocity and turbulence
measurements, etc.
3. Biophysical Model of phonation that uses a custom-made finite-element
model to study normal and abnormal phonation with dynamically changing parameters.
Facilities
and Equipment to be used with these models include:
Four
workstations equipped with: A/D board and recording software; MATLAB signal
and image processing toolboxes; and Vocal Fold Finite-Element Biophysical
Model
Hearing
Laboratory
Christopher C. Turner, Ph.D.
The Hearing Laboratory located in the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center is designed and equipped for research on perception of speech and other sounds by both normal and hearing-impaired patients. The five Macintosh computers and their accompanying software, along with other sound and signal analysis equipment, allow the digital recording of speech and other sounds, as well as speech and music synthesis. Various computer programs for signal processing assist in the design and evaluation of future hearing aids. A custom-built response system allows patients to listen to various stimuli presented by the computers, and their responses to be stored online.
Hearing
Aid Laboratory
Ruth
Bentler, Ph.D., Director
Human
Electrophysiology Lab
Carolyn
J. Brown, Ph.D., Director
The Human Evoked
Potential Laboratory, located in the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center,
is equipped with instrumentation necessary to record and analyze a wide range
of auditory-evoked potentials from human subjects. The general goal of most
of the experiments conducted in this laboratory is to evaluate the extent
to which these evoked potential measures can be used to predict performance
on a range of different listening tasks.
Iowa Collaboration on Child Language
The purpose of the Iowa Collaboration on Child Language is to advance understanding of childhood language disorders via research. Its members form an intellectual community to foster and support our very best work on the problems associated with children’s language development and disorders.
Members of the ICCL are the: Child Language Research Center; Word Learning Lab; and Grammar Acquisition Lab.
Child
Language Research Center
J. Bruce Tomblin, Ph.D., Director
The CLRC is a multi-site collaboration of researchers based in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. The unifying theme is the study of the causes and consequences of developmenal language disorders. Four major focus areas of this work are:
the data-rich Epidemiologic study, which set diagnostic criteria and defined the incidence of Specific Language Impairment;
the Longitudinal Study, which followed children with SLI and matched peers through age 18;
Genetic research to attempt to define the heritable influences of language development;
Cochlear Implant work to determine if speech, language and reading skills of children with cochlear implants exceed those of age-mates with various levels of hearing loss.
Word
Learning Lab
Karla J. McGregor, Ph.D., Director
The mission of
the Word Learning Lab at The University of Iowa is to understand how children
learn new words, how knowledge of word meanings deepens over time, and how
best to facilitate rich vocabulary learning among children who are challenged
by language learning impairments. We are interested in individual differences
among learners who are normally developing (including monolingual and bilingual
learners as well as affluent and impoverished learners) and among learners
who have language impairments (including specific language impairment, language
learning disabilities, and autism spectrum disorders).
Grammar
Acquisition Lab
Amanda Owen, Ph.D., Director
The Grammar Acquisition Lab studies how and when children develop particular aspects of syntax and morphology. We are interested in the learning processes of children with speech and language difficulties, as well as the way that typically developing children learn morpho-syntax. We hope that by understanding more about the development of morpho-syntax, we will gain insights into which factors, like processing capacity and linguistic structure, might influence language use in both typically developing children and children with speech and language difficulties. This knowledge may allow us to develop more sensitive assessment instruments and more effective interventions for use with children with speech and language difficulties.
Laryngeal
Molecular and Cell Biology
Ingo Titze, Ph.D. Director
To
truly understand the voice, the molecular underpinnings of laryngeal development
and their response to environmental stresses like vibration must be understood.
In this lab, goals are to elucidate the molecular constituency, processes
and regulation of the voice. More specifically, central focuses are:
Human
stem cell research is a major emphasis of this group in: distinguishing the
differences between cells of varying levels of differentiation and their effects
on extracellular matrix remodeling in the vocal folds; creating a valid in vitro
model of the lamina propria; and developing future therapeutic strategies.
Through this multilevel approach, the Cellular and Molecular Biology Group looks to develop a clear paradigm of the cellular and molecular interactions within the lamina propria of the vocal folds to assist in generating sound therapies and remedies for voice disorders and injuries.
Laryngeal
Neurophysiology
Eileen Finnegan, Ph.D., Director
Under construction
Neurogenic
Language Disorders Lab
Jean K. Gordon, Ph.D., Director
The
Neurogenic Language Disorders Laboratory, located in the basement of the Wendell
Johnson Speech and Hearing Center, is designed to investigate the nature of
language deficits in neurologically disordered subjects. The room is equipped
with a sound booth used to minimize distractions and noise during testing;
a Kay Elemetrics system for the analysis of speech samples; a digital video
editing system; and several computers for word processing, statistical analysis,
and the administration of language experiments. Current research focuses on
phonological and grammatical analyses of aphasic speech samples, with the
goal of refining psycholinguistic models of language production in normal
and aphasic populations.
Pediatric
Auditory &
Early Speech Development Lab
Sandie
Bass-Ringdahl, Ph.D., Director
Research in the
Pediatric Auditory and Early Speech Development Lab is concentrated in three
areas. The first is the analysis of early infant vocalizations in children
who are deaf or hard of hearing. This research seeks to define the relationship
between vocalizations and audibility (the amount of the speech spectrum available
to a listener).
The second area of research involves the analysis of the communication strategies
parents use to interact with their children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
A therapy program is in the initial stages of development that seeks to improve
the communication strategies of parents and thereby improve the speech and
language outcomes of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The final area of research involves the prosody development of children pre-
and post-cochlear implantation. Our lab is analyzing the acoustic characteristics
of speech in young children who receive cochlear implants.
Speech
Perception / Psycholinguistics Lab
Richard
Hurtig, Ph.D., Director
The Psycholoinguistics/Speech Perception Laboratory is located on the third floor of the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center. The laboratory conducts research on perceptual and cognitive strategies used in the comprehension of linguistic input. The laboratory is equipped with microprocessors with DSP capabilities and A/D and D/A as well as digital I/O interfaces. The equipment is used to perform acoustic analysis of signals as well as a number of alternative signal and speech synthesis algorithms. Experiments can be designed which require auditory, visual, or vibrotactile stimulus presentation. Response modalities can vary from verbal responses or manual responses to oculomotor responses. The laboratory is also involved in the development and evaluation of literacy intervention programs.
Speech
and Language Production Lab
Kirrie Ballard, Ph.D., Director
Under construction
Speech
Physiology Laboratory
Jerald Moon Ph.D., Director
The Speech Physiology Laboratory is located on the third floor of the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center. The Speech Physiology Laboratory houses a number of computers dedicated to acquiring and analyzing physiologic signals. Data conditioning, digitizating, and analysis are accomplished using a variety of commercial software packages and custom computer algorithms.
The laboratory has equipment for recording six channels of EMG activity. It has six channels of strain gauge equipment for recording lip and jaw movement. The laboratory includes a double-walled IA sound-treated room, a cephalostat, an 8-channel- and a 2- channel-storage oscilloscope, a Sony PC-108M digital audio instrumentation recorder, and Tascam 22-4 four-channel AM tape recorders. The lab also includes a variety of transducers for monitoring electromyographic, aerodynamic, and kinemetic events during speech production.
Speech
and Swallowing Lab
Michael P Karnell, Ph.D., Director
This
laboratory in the Medical Research Center is designed to provide clinical
support for the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Speech
Pathology Service in the form of phonatory function measures, aerodynamic
and acoustic measures, aerodynamic and acoustic measures of velopharyngeal
closure for speech, and laryngeal electromyography. A digital video processing
facility is used for analysis of videofluorographic recordings of swallowing,
as well as endoscopic images of laryngeal and velopharyngeal physiology. The
laboratory also provides support for joint clinical research activities between
the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the Department of Otolaryngology
- Head and Neck Surgery.
Stuttering
Laboratory
Patricia Zebrowski, Ph.D., Director
The Stuttering Lab in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (Rooms 14 and 24 SHC) is under the direction of Patricia M. Zebrowski. Dr. Zebrowski received her Ph.D. from Syracuse University ('87), and has been on the faculty at the University of Iowa since 1988. She holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) in speech-language pathology, and is an ASHA Board-Recognized Fluency Specialist.
The Stuttering Lab is equipped with facilities for the collection and analysis of a wide variety of speech and language data, including behavioral, kinematic, and acoustic. We have a video recording studio and four computer workstations dedicated to data acquisition (Windaq) and analysis (Windaq, Computerized Speech Lab, SALT, SPSS), in addition to a conference room for meetings and subject interviews. A number of MA and Ph.D. students, as well as non-student Research Assistants work in the lab on various projects.
Link to Stuttering Research Lab website
Tissue
Engineering Lab
Ingo Titze, Ph.D., Director
This multi-site (The Universities of Iowa and Utah) research group is studying the effects of vibration on vocal fold tissues. Synthetic materials -- like sponges and foams -- begin the engineering process. These materials, which are porous, are seeded with cells that produce their own products (various protein fibers and fluid-like protein substances) to fill the spaces in the sponges or foam. All of this is happening in a bioreactor: a device that allows cells to react to imposed environmental forces. In this case, the forces are vibrational forces. The tissue is cultured between two plates. One of the plates rotates back and forth at frequency’s up to 100 Hz. In this way, the cells and their protein products are exposed to rather violent vibratory forces, not unlike those experienced in the human vocal cords during loud voice production. The objective of the research is to determine the underlying molecular causes for voice disorders related to excessive use of the voice.
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