Department of
Speech and Hearing Science

Research Labs

Speech Perception & Acoustics Laboratories (SPA Labs)

The SPA Labs are a research unit affiliated with the Department of Speech and Hearing Science. The current research program consists of several projects in speech communication which underscore the importance of variation in speech. The variation comes from diverse sources such as speaker characteristics, the geographic region in which the speaker was raised, or from factors related to the dynamic character of broadly defined speech units. The approach taken at the SPA Labs is data-driven and the focus is on constructing large corpora of speech which would provide conclusive answers to the questions asked. The current research addresses several issues in human speech perception, acoustic amplitude variation in coarticulated vowels, dialectal variation in acoustic characteristics of speech, phonetic aspects of sound change, cognitive processing in individuals who stutter, and learning second language phonology. More information on the projects, personnel, and recent (downloadable) publications can be found on the SPA Labs website at http://www.spalabs.org, click here.

Psychoacoustics Lab

In the Psychoacoustics Laboratory we are working on projects that investigate the ability of listeners to extract information from complex, time-varying sounds. These sounds are acoustically similar to speech, music or environmental sounds, but they do not require the cognitive processing necessary to recognize or understand those sounds. We are testing our model of peripheral auditory processing, which suggests that the auditory nervous system responds to the spectral center-of-gravity, COG, of the neural activity generated by such sounds. The COG is the “balance point” for this activity. As the COG changes over time, listeners hear changes in the sounds that are often described as rising or falling pitches.

Speech Development Laboratory

Through early diagnosis, appropriate listening aids, and timely intervention, most children can acquire the spoken language skills they will need to succeed later in school and participate fully in society. But professionals disagree about what constitutes the "best" method of helping children acquire spoken language. That's why the National Institutes of Health - National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH-NIDCD) decided to support research on outcomes for infants and toddlers diagnosed with permanent hearing loss. For more info click here.

Speech Recognition and Aging Laboratory (SR&A Lab)

The Speech Recognition and Aging Laboratory (SR&A Lab), housed in the Department of Speech & Hearing Science, is dedicated to gaining a better understanding of the speech understanding problems exhibited by older adult listeners with hearing loss. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests older adults have difficulty processing binaural auditory information (i.e., binaural interference), especially in noisy listening environments. Current lab projects are focused on studying the binaural interference phenomenon among aging listeners. For more information, visit the SR&A Lab

Bioacoustics and Auditory Neurosciences Group (BANG)

BANG is an informal group of faculty, staff and students with interests in hearing research. Members talk about their research conducted in one of the affiliated labs. Several times each quarter guest speakers are invited to discuss their research. Guests come from other departments on campus and from other universities, research labs and clinical facilities. The group meets on Thursday afternoons at 4:00 PM in Pressey Hall. The BANG domain (http://www.osubang.org/) lists current affiliates and has a calendar of upcoming presentations.