The AMP lab research has broadly centered on developmental psychoacoustics and identifying factors that promote auditory fitness (i.e., skills). My work has merged psychoacoustic methods with clinical test formats to investigate the listening ability of individuals across the lifespan. Of particular interest recently is investigating young children’s auditory readiness for education settings. My clinical and research training includes programming in Matlab, Eprime, and web-based languages to aid the integration of psychoacoustics rigor into efficient clinical data collection methods. My strengths in programming, parametric and medical statistics have facilitated intra- and inter-disciplinary collaborations to support three main lines of research:

Research Lines:

(1) The study of developmental psychoacoustic and the role music instruction and sophistication plays in auditory (listening) performance. Small campus grants and a small external NSF sub-award have been
secured to develop this line of inquiry. Ongoing collaborations with several Auburn University
individuals: Sridhar Krishnamurti, Mary Sandage, Nancy Haak, Larry Molt, (Speech, Language and
Hearing Sciences), Guy Harrison, Matthew Hoch (Music), Melissa Pangelinan (Kinesiology), and
Deborah Moncrief at the University of Memphis supports this line of inquiry.

Projects:

“Individual differences and bias in children and adults pitch matching abilities: Towards a clinical assessment of pitch memory skills”

• Written by Auburn University doctoral student Molly Murdock under the supervision of Dr. Aurora J. Weaver, this insightful capstone measures and compares the difference in pitch matching ability in musically inclined individuals versus those who do not identify as musicians.

“Pitch Perception & Production in Music: A study determining the benefits in aided vs. unaided listening”

• Originally started by Alumni member Dr. Payton Lack, this study is now in the hands of AMP lab Undergraduate Research Fellow Bailey Branham, mentored by Dr. Aurora Weaver. Both Bailey and Dr. Lack wear Binaural amplification, and were interested in quantifying the benefit that hearing aid users receive in terms of pitch perception in music, and the ability to sing both harmony and melody while aided vs. unaided.

(2) Foundational research evaluating the role of demanding acoustic environments on developmental
psychoacoustics to identify contributions to auditory fitness (skills). The work evaluates speech in noise
perception, dichotic processing, and spectra-temporal processing in preschool and school-age children.
The goal is to develop and validate a graded early auditory skills screener that aligns with JCIH 2019
position towards universal pre-school hearing screenings. In addition, to extend beyond peripheral
hearing to develop tools and guidelines for screening auditory readiness for school. Collaborations with
Gail Whitelaw, at Ohio State University, Marisha Speights-Atkins at Northwestern, and Cheryl Seal
(Computer Science and Software Engineering) at Auburn University are ongoing. Progress has been
made to strengthen collaborations with the Educational Audiology Association (EAA), an internal-Early
Career Development Grant has been secured, as well as funding for an Undergraduate Research Fellow
(Anna O’Donell) to promote this line of research. It is my hope to create an infrastructure to facilitate
school-based audiologists to promote compliance with universal preschool hearing screenings.

Projects:

“Validation of the PSPAN task: Trading relationships among frequency discrimination ability and task demands”

• Research by Dr. Aurora Weaver with contributions for manuscript dissemination by current audiology doctoral students Dalton Williams and Taylor Darby, this empirical research capstone discusses the validity of the PSPAN task to determine the effects that individual differences have on the performance of the participants being tested.

 “Preliminary Investigation of Audiological Screenings: Peripheral Hearing, Vestibular, and Cognition“

• Hearing loss is one of the most frequently occurring non-fatal disabilities that affects individuals across their lifespan. While the majority of infants born in the U.S. will have their hearing screened at birth, late-onset or progressive hearing loss may not be identified at these screenings. With the introduction provided by these findings, this research done under the supervision of Dr. Aurora J. Weaver, by Auburn University doctoral student Liz Murphy, explores the use and sensitivity of the AGESapp in comparison to the gold-standard portable audiometer.

(3) To create a central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) and auditory skills repository for research and training purposes with Alisha Jones (Auburn University). This work aims to explore Artificial
Intelligence techniques (e.g., computer vision) to aid in research and clinical diagnosis of CAPD.

“Central Auditory Processing Intervention Efficacy Study of Little Listeners Therapy Protocol”

• Doctoral Student Rachel Coltrane is currently conducting an Efficacy study of the Little Listeners LLC Therapy Protocol for Pediatric patients with CAPD. She hopes that through her research, the proprietary PASE program developed by Little Listeners can be implemented as an intervention strategy at the Auburn University Speech & Hearing Clinic in the near future.

(4) Legal, Ethical, and Professional Issues in Audiology

“Comparison of Student Debt-to-Income Ratios for Audiologists”

• Doctoral students Sasha Sutcavage and Hadley Neal are collecting data via Qualtrics Survey to better understand the current Debt-to-Income ratios of Audiologists, and compare them to other specialized medical professions (ie pharmacy, optometry, dentistry) to determine where Audiologists fall in terms of salary and overall happiness with their chosen field. If you are interested in helping them with their research, please take the short survey at the link below!