Past Events

Lukas Suveg, Au.D.
Waisman Center
March 13, 2026 @ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Learn more about the Hearing and Donuts Seminar Series

Spatial separation of target and competing speech can improve the accuracy with which listeners, including those with bilateral cochlear implants, identify the target speech. Even if measurement of this benefit were implemented in routine clinical practice, behavioral measures like percent correct scores are not designed to provide insight into the momentary accumulation of perceptual salience of auditory stimuli that informs the ultimate judgment regarding the target speech. In this study, we adapted the “visual world paradigm,” wherein eye-gaze was monitored as participants selected, on a computer monitor, the image representing a spoken target stimulus. This novel study was designed primarily to investigate the effect of target-masker spatial configuration on certainty of target identity. Eye gaze behaviors unfolding over the time course of target determination were measured along with time to decision and percent correct, to test the hypothesis that spatial separation of a target and masker increases the certainty with which targets are identified. In addition to results from 20 typically hearing listeners, I will share preliminary data from the initial bilateral cochlear implant recipients enrolled in this ongoing study.

Robert Fettiplace, Ph.D.
Waisman Center
March 6, 2026 @ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
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Sound transduction in cochlear hair cells arises by activation of mechanotransducer channels composed primarily of transmembrane channel-like protein 1 (TMC1). We have found that mutations in Tmc1 cause hair cell death and deafness in mice by postnatal day 21. However, mechano-transduction is normal in the first postnatal week. Our goal is to understand what triggers apoptosis, death of the hair cells, and deafness in these mouse mutants. I shall show that in all Tmc1 mutants studied, there was a reduction in the density of the PMCA2 Ca2+ pump in the outer hair cell stereocilia. This leads to an increase in cytoplasmic Ca2+ which deleteriously affects mitochondrial function. The results imply a connection between stereociliary PMCA2 density, hair cell apoptosis and deafness.

Ryan J. Burdick, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-S
62 Goodnight Hall
March 2, 2026 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
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This job talk outlines doctoral candidate Ryan J Burdick’s background, and how his experience led to his current research program. His research interests are two-pronged, with both prongs aimed at maximizing safety and autonomy during eating and swallowing for older individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD). Prong 1 focuses on contextualizing swallowing to mealtime, as the context in which swallowing is occurring is ever-present, often overlooked, and presents tremendous opportunity for intervention. Prong 2 focuses on improving the measurement of swallowing safety so as to improve assessment accuracy and to make the evaluation of swallowing safety more accessible and naturalistic. Combining these aims, Ryan is researching the impact of feeding dependence on swallow function and physiology (Prong 1), while working toward the development of wearable technology for individuals with ADRD that can allow assessment of feeding and swallowing to occur in a naturalistic environment (Prong 2).

Sigan L. Hartley, Ph.D.
62 Goodnight Hall
February 23, 2026 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
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Dr. Hartley will discuss research aimed at understanding aging and Alzheimer's disease in people with Down syndrome. This work includes patterns in cognitive, language, and functional decline and their link to neuroimaging and blood biomarkers of brain changes. This work also includes the potential role of co-occurring health conditions and lifestyle in driving variability in aging outcomes. Implications for screening, diagnosis, and prevention efforts aimed at supporting optimal outcomes in adults with Down syndrome will be discussed.

Bobby Gibbs, Ph.D.
Waisman Center
February 20, 2026 @ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Learn more about the Hearing and Donuts Seminar Series

Speech contains a signature unique to each talker which is found in the co-occurring changes in frequency and amplitude over time known as spectrotemporal modulations. In a previous study, older listeners with hearing impairment relied on a similar range of spectrotemporal modulations as their peers with typical hearing to "glimpse" target speech in a competing talker background. However, hearing impairment led to greater susceptibility to interference in non-target modulations associated with the competing talker. My lab has generated preliminary data that explores how simulations of altered neural encoding through a cochlear implant affects the utility of spectrotemporal modulations in a competing talker paradigm (coordinate-response measure sentences filtered into different modulation regions or “spectrotemporal bubbles”). The hypothesis is that broadened auditory filters due to increased spread of excitation (manipulated via the vocoder simulation filter slope) leads to poorer utilization of target modulations and increased susceptibility to interference from non-target modulations. Further, we are exploring how spectrotemporal modulation sensitivity in quiet predicts which modulations lead to glimpsing or interference in noise. This work will inform modulation-based source separation algorithms tailored to the unique listening strategies that occur with altered neural encoding.

Mohammad Maarefvand, Ph.D.
62 Goodnight Hall
February 16, 2026 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
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In standard clinical audiological practice, individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss receive cochlear implants in one or both ears. Recent advances in the field recognize that some patients have residual low-frequency acoustic hearing, making them eligible for Electric-Acoustic Stimulation (EAS). EAS combines high-frequency electric hearing (through a cochlear implant) with low-frequency acoustic hearing (through a hearing aid) in the same ear. Studies in adults have reported benefits from EAS, including improved speech understanding in noise and sound localization. Little is known about benefits from EAS for children. Moreover, benchmark data on low-frequency sensitivity in children are minimal. This study is part of a multi-center investigation addressing a gap in knowledge on the role of low-frequency hearing in binaural sensitivity and speech recognition in noise when low-frequency binaural cues are available. We investigated age-related sensitivity to interaural time differences (ITDs) and interaural level differences (ILDs), as well as the benefit for speech understanding in children and adults with typical hearing. These data will provide developmental typical benchmarks for our team’s ongoing studies aimed at assessing clinical outcomes in children and adults who receive EAS devices. Results showed age-related improvements in both ITD/ILD thresholds and speech perception in noise across childhood. However, despite these parallel trends, the measures may reflect distinct underlying mechanisms. This work was supported by grants from the NIH-NIDCD (R01DC020194 to R.H.G. and R01DC020355 to R.Y.L) and in part by a core grant to the Waisman Center (NICHD P50HD105353).

Matt Banks, Ph.D.
Waisman Center
February 13, 2026 @ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Learn more about the Hearing and Donuts Seminar Series

How consciousness emerges from the complex of interconnected networks in the brain is one of great unsolved mysteries in science. We seek to gain insight into this question by studying what changes in the brain during loss, recovery, and altered states of consciousness in neurosurgical patients implanted with intracranial electrodes while being evaluated for seizure resection surgery. We identify signatures of these changes by identifying common changes in brain activity and connectivity during sleep and anesthesia, two conditions in which consciousness is lost reversibly. In addition to elucidating the neural correlates of consciousness, our work is relevant to monitoring depth of anesthesia, and in the diagnosis, management and prognosis of pathological states of consciousness including central sleep disorders, delirium, vegetative or minimally conscious states, and coma.

Carolyn Kroger, Ph.D.
62 Goodnight Hall
February 2, 2026 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
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Perception and action are fundamentally shaped by time. Precise timing allows us to integrate sensory information, understand speech, and coordinate movement. With healthy aging and in many neurological disorders, these timing processes become less reliable, contributing to difficulties in communication, motor control, and overall quality of life. My research investigates how aging and neurological conditions alter time perception and motor coordination, and how these changes affect auditory processing and movement. Using interdisciplinary approaches such as psychophysics, motion tracking, behavioral modeling, and electroencephalography, I study the neural and behavioral mechanisms that support auditory and motor timing. My goal is to understand how these mechanisms are impacted by healthy aging, hearing loss, and motor disorders. In this talk, I will present two main lines of research, highlighting key findings from past and ongoing work. First, I will examine the role of temporal processing in auditory feature integration across the lifespan. Second, I will discuss how aging and neurological disorders affect rhythm perception and movement timing. I will conclude by outlining how my future work will advance our understanding of human timing in healthy older adults and inform rhythm-based interventions to improve speech and movement fluency in motor and communication disorders.

Gunnar Quass
Waisman Center
January 30, 2026 @ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
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TBA

Emily Goldberg M.S., CCC-SLP
62 Goodnight Hall
January 29, 2026 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
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Aphasia is a chronic language disorder that disproportionately affects older adults following stroke, with profound consequences for communication, independence, and quality of life. Although behavioral language therapy is the clinical standard for managing aphasia, treatment outcomes vary widely, and mechanisms supporting successful language re-learning remain poorly understood. Because rehabilitation depends on learning and memory processes, identifying biological factors that support or constrain learning is critical for improving aphasia outcomes. I present a program of research that reframes aphasia rehabilitation as a sleep-dependent learning process at the intersection of communication science, cognitive neuroscience, and healthy aging. Sleep disturbance is common after stroke and changes systematically with age, yet sleep has been overlooked as a contributor to aphasia recovery. Drawing on behavioral, neuroimaging, and sleep data from individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia, I introduce a neurobiological model proposing complementary hippocampal and neocortical routes to language re-learning. I then describe ongoing work testing this model by examining associations between sleep quality and treatment-driven changes in language function and neural organization. Finally, I outline future directions that integrate sleep physiology into aphasia rehabilitation and extend these principles to healthy aging, positioning sleep as a modifiable mechanism for promoting learning and plasticity across the lifespan.