Julie M. Barkmeier is an Assistant Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. Dr. Barkmeier is a member of the faculty in the deptartment since August of 1997. Her doctoral training was completed at the University of Iowa in 1994 followed by a post-doctorate in the Voice and Speech Laboratory at the National Institutes on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, The National Institutes of Health.
Research in Dr. Barkmeier's laboratory focuses on normal and abnormal laryngeal neuroanatomy and physiology. Investigations address the relation of laryngeal motor and sensory nerve structures and function to normal and abnormal laryngeal movement. The morphology of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) was compared to the left flexor hallicus longus nerve in canine cadavers. This work generated interest in further study of the connective tissue coverings of the right and left RLN in human cadavers across varied age groups and percent body fat ranges. The findings from this research may contribute to our understanding of factors related to "idiopathic" nerve dysfunction such as occurs in 30% of cases of unilateral vocal fold paralysis.
Dr. Barkmeier has also been involved in research on laryngeal motor control during swallowing, the impact of biofeedback on learning a laryngeal motor task in individuals diagnosed with voice disorders compared to normal controls, and long-term outcomes of pharmaceutical treatment of spasmodic dysphonia.
Neuroanatomical studies under development will use cadaver tissues obtained from the University Medical Center with tissue preparation and imaging performed using the University of Arizona Biotechnology research laboratories. Physiology studies entail use of bipolar hooked wire electrodes inserted into the muscles of the larynx by an otolaryngologist. Other methods used for study of laryngeal physiology include flexible and rigid videostroboscopy for visualization of the larynx, aerodynamic, and acoustic measures.
Dr. Barkmeier teaches the Voice Disorders and Dysphagia courses to graduate students.
