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Speech and Language Lab

The Speech and Language Laboratory, situated in the Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, conducts research dedicated to exploring the use of modern technology applied to people with speech, hearing, and language disorders. Research addresses language development, language use, and cognitive processes related to language using acoustic phonetic analysis, computational psycholinguistics, (real-time) bio-feedback and wearable technology, automatic speech recognition (ASR) and automatic speech processing (ASP), complex statistical modeling, and behavioral measures. Recent projects have explored the application of wearable computer technology, automatic speech recognition (ASR), tele-health administration of standardized tests, and rehabilitation techniques. We have worked on issues within populations of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) who wear hearing aids and cochlear implants, adults with Parkinson’s disease, and adults and children without deficit.  We are part of a larger collaborative working on Babble Boot Camp, a prospective therapeutic intervention for children’s language development.  Here is a growing repository of published work on this topic.

The lab hosts regular undergraduate and graduate student researchers and is affiliated with the HOPE School of Spokane, a preschool for children with hearing loss, and the university Hearing & Speech Clinic. In addition, research projects are supported by resident Research Assistants, visiting researchers and post doctoral students, and a wide range of WSU and external collaborators. The lab is currently funded by a research grant from the NSF supporting development of HomeBank, an online repository of daylong audio recordings and software tools and the Washington Research Foundation. Lab members are affiliated with Daylong Audio Recordings of Children’s Linguistic Environments (DARCLE), and international consortium of researchers looking at child speech, cognitive development, and computational approaches to acoustic data.