Jeannette (“Jenny”) Hoit, PhD

Room: 507
Office Phone: (520) 621-7064
Email: hoit@email.arizona.edu

Research projects in my lab focus on normal and abnormal speech motor control.  Many of the projects have been devoted to understanding the influence of development and aging on respiratory, laryngeal, and velopharyngeal function during speech production.  Others have been designed to elucidate the impact of linguistic and biomechanic variables on speech physiology, vocal characteristics of skilled performers, and mechanisms underlying interactions between ventilatory drives and speech production requirements.  Research projects involving abnormal speech motor control have centered on a variety of neuromuscular disorders.  For example, studies have been conducted to address questions regarding the speech of individuals with Parkinson disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spasmodic dysphonia, and spinal cord injury.  A current emphasis in the laboratory involves the study of individuals with neuromuscular disorders whose respiratory function is so compromised that they must rely on an externally driven system to breathe, such as a mechanical ventilator or a phrenic nerve pacer.  Another current emphasis relates to speaking-related dysprea (breathing discomfort associated with speech production) in health and disease.  The overall goals of my research endeavors are to increase understanding of normal and abnormal speech production and to offer insights in potential clinical applications whenever possible.

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Useful Links:
Click here for a list of Dr. Hoit's Selected Publications.

 

Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer, PhD

Room: 338
Office Phone: (520) 621-5699
Email: jbark@email.arizona.edu

My research interests pertain to understanding how we control laryngeal function for such behaviors as voice production and swallowing.  I have done work that characterizes motor-sensory responses in the larynx relative to swallowing.  This information helps us understand the role laryngeal sensory-motor responses may play in airway protection and help elucidate central nervous system pathways contributing to the control of the larynx.  Other studies planned in this regard include a study of laryngeal reflex responses relative to the swallow during upright and supine postures and characterizing pharyngeal stage muscle patterns during the swallow in these two positions to determine how gravitational forces may affect laryngeal protective responses and swallow muscle patterns.  Although the majority of my research shows a basic science focus, I am equally interested in clinical voice issues and have studied individuals who have neurogenic voice disorders such as spasmodic dysphonia and vocal fold paralysis.  I am particularly interested in behavioral clinical issues such as motor learning theory applied to voice therapy.  I plan to continue research addressing both voice and swallowing issues in normal and disordered populations.

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Brad Story, PhD

Room: 330
Office Phone: (520) 626-9528
Email: bstory@email.arizona.edu

My research centers around the use of computer models to aid in understanding how the physical shapes and sizes of both the voice source components and the vocal tract contribute to the sound of the human voice.  I am also interested in how emotions, age, and dialect affect the functioning of speech system as well as how a particular voice type can be projected into some other voice type such a young-to-old, male-to-female, disordered-to- ordered, etc.  The results of this research have some potential technological applications in such areas as speech synthesis, automated clinical speech analysis, speaker recognition for security purposes and forensic speech analysis.  However, my goal is not to replace human vocal expression with simulated or synthesized voice, but rather to advance an understanding of how the many dimensions of the human voice function in order to transfer information and ideas to others.

I have future projects planned to study the vocal tract shape with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), continue development of a speech simulator based on data from the MRI studies, investigate paralinguistic qualities of speech, and study the relationship of articulation and acoustics.

Want More Information? Click HERE for Brad Story's Personal Homepage.

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