Edwin Maas is a research associate in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. He received a Masters degree in Neurolinguistics (Aphasiology) from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) in 1998, and a Ph.D. in Language and Communivative Disorders from San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego in 2006. Before joining the department in January 2008, he received postdoctoral training in the Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston Unviversity and in the Speech Communication Group at MIT.
Dr. Maas’ research interests center on the cognitive and motor processes involved in post-lexical aspects of speech production, as well as on how these processes are learned and break down in different populations. His interests are both theoretical and clinical.
Theoretically, his research aims to understand the processes by which speakers prepare and produce speech, how these processes unfold in real time, and what mechanisms are responsible for learning to produce fluent speech. Dr. Maas uses a variety of methodological approaches and measures to address these issues, including reaction time studies, acoustic analysis of speech, the study of speech motor learning across the lifespan, and neuropsychology.
Clinically, his research aims to generate a better understanding of disorders of speech production such as apraxia of speech and phonological disorders (in children and adults), in order to develop and improve diagnostic methods. In addition, findings from the theoretical component of his research will feed into treatment efficacy studies in populations with speech production disorders.
