Prosem Lecture: Maximizing Interdisciplinary Collaboration Between SLPs and Registered Dietitians

Ryan Burdick, M.S., CCC-SLP
62 Goodnight Hall
@ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Learn more about Prosem

Dysphagia and malnutrition are two distinct, yet highly related, conditions. Considering the close relationship between these conditions, it is crucial that the primary providers for each of these conditions mirror this closeness in their clinical practice. This talk will review the results of a mixed methods survey study to evaluate the current status of interdisciplinary collaboration between Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) and Registered Dietitians (RD). Further the results of this work establish facilitators and barriers to successful collaboration that can be translated into meaningful change within the various institutions where SLPs and RDs converge.

Ryan Burdick, M.S., CCC-SLP

Hearing and Donuts (Brain and Bagels) Seminar

Sara Misurelli, Ph.D., Au.D., CCC-A
Waisman Center
@ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Learn more about the Hearing and Donuts Seminar Series

Hearing loss (HL) affects countless individuals, resulting in significant adverse outcomes, including social isolation, diminished ability to work, and increased anxiety and depression. Many of these individuals do not speak English as their primary language, and for them, access to equitable healthcare can be extremely challenging. It is well-established that treating HL, such as through surgical interventions or amplification (e.g., hearing aids), provides benefits to both the individual and the healthcare system. In fact, the World Health Organization states that untreated HL is estimated to have a global economic cost of $750 billion annually by 2050. Audiologic hearing evaluations, which include word recognition tests (WRTs), are essential for diagnosis and treatment of HL. However, WRTs are primarily available only in English, leaving many non-English speakers without the tools needed to fully understand, treat, and manage their hearing health. This presentation will cover past, current, and future projects aimed at more accessible hearing health care for all.

Sara Misurelli, Ph.D., Au.D., CCC-A

Hearing and Donuts (Brain and Bagels) Seminar

Bobby Gibbs, Ph.D.
Waisman Center
@ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Learn more about the Hearing and Donuts Seminar Series

Speech in noise remains a top concern when listening through a cochlear implant (CI). Speech enhancement algorithms have shown limited success in noise. Improved noise mitigation requires a better understanding of what acoustic information is prioritized when listening through a CI in noise, and how acoustic utilization in noise is affected by the fidelity of initial neural encoding (the electrode-to-neural interface). The “bubble noise” paradigm provides an opportunity to test the hypothesis that acoustic utilization in noise depends on the electrode-to-neural interface. This talk will present analyses from bubble noise data when listening to consonants in noise. Bubbles are random regions of attenuation of an otherwise unintelligible masker that provide random glimpses of the phonemes. Test conditions involved vocoded stimuli with broad spread of excitation, vocoding with narrow spread of excitation, and unprocessed stimuli. I will present analyses from time-frequency importance functions (derived from correlating bubble regions with correct responses), error patterns, and acoustic intelligibility prediction metrics. The converging evidence from these analyses provides an initial roadmap for how CI speech enhancement in noise might be more tailored.

Bobby Gibbs, Ph.D.

Hearing and Donuts (Brain and Bagels) Seminar

Bikalpa Ghimire
Waisman Center
@ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Learn more about the Hearing and Donuts Seminar Series

The visual perception of our natural environment is intricately structured; comprising meaningful objects, surfaces, and the relationships among them. At the early stage of visual processing, the neural representation of the visual world is local. Through processes known as perceptual organization, local elements associated with the same object or surface are integrated, while distinct entities are segregated from each other. Motion provides an important cue for such grouping and segmentation. One particularly difficult problem in perceptual organization is how spatially overlapping stimuli moving in different directions are segregated to give rise to the perception of overlapping surfaces moving transparently against each other, referred to as motion transparency. In this talk, I will delve into the neural mechanism underlying motion transparency, emphasizing the interplay between two visual cortical areas important for visual motion processing, the primary visual cortex (V1) and the middle-temporal area (MT), which operate at different spatial scales.

A W crest banner flutters in the wind on Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during autumn on Oct. 18, 2019. (Photo by Jeff Miller /UW-Madison)

DEIAB Student Discussion Group Meeting – Holiday Appreciation (Learning about Different Holidays and Cultures)

In Person & Virtual Options
@ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Join us for the final DEI Student Discussion of the semester, where we'll explore diverse cultural festivals and rituals from around the world and discuss their relevance in speech therapy sessions. This event will include engaging group discussions using a snowball protocol, where participants will share insights from a thought-provoking article on cultural considerations in therapy. Whether you're interested in learning about new traditions or deepening your understanding of DEI in clinical practice, this discussion is a great way to connect and grow with fellow students.

A W crest banner flutters in the wind on Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during autumn on Oct. 18, 2019. (Photo by Jeff Miller /UW-Madison)

Hearing and Donuts (Brain and Bagels) Seminar

Didulani Dantanarayana, M.Sc. Audiology
Waisman Center
@ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Learn more about the Hearing and Donuts Seminar Series

Children show significant variability in outcome measures including speech understanding in quiet and in noise. Children with hearing loss show even greater variability and numerous factors can contribute to such variability, including auditory experience prior to the onset of deafness and implantation and the downstream effects of deafness, including neurocognitive abilities, neural health, and the integrity of the auditory system. Much of the research to date on speech understanding in children with and without hearing loss has used standardized tests that are high in semantic contexts. However, semantic context of speech may influence speech understanding in complex listening situations. Therefore, to fully understand how children use the semantic context to recognize speech in complex auditory environments, the content of sentence materials used in this study had either semantically coherent- or anomalous in context. To investigate the extent to which children benefit from spatial separation of target speech from background noise, spatial release from masking (SRM) was also investigated.

Didulani Dantanarayana, Master of Audiology

DEIAB Committee Monthly Meeting

401 Goodnight Hall
@ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

The monthly meeting of the DEIAB Committee is dedicated to discussing the latest developments, announcements, and updates across all our task forces. This meeting provides a platform for committee members to collaborate, share insights, and …

A W crest banner flutters in the wind on Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during autumn on Oct. 18, 2019. (Photo by Jeff Miller /UW-Madison)