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2021

December 2021

PhD student Jacie McHaney received notice of award for her F31-Diversity National Research Service Award titled, "Neural Mechanisms of Speech Perception in Noise in Middle-age". This award will investigate sensory encoding and cognitive processes associated with speech perception in noise in younger and middle-aged adults with normal hearing thresholds using computational cognitive neuroscience and multimodal neuroimaging approaches. Way to go!

October 2021

Dr. Bharath Chandrasekaran (PI), Jacie McHaney (co-PI), Dr. Casey Roark, Dr. Catherine Palmer (CSD), and Dr. Tobias Teichert (Psychiatry) received $25,000 from Pitt's Clinical and Translational Science Institute's (CTSI) Quantitative Methodologies Pilot program for their project titled, Decision Strategies in speech perception in aging. This proposal will address hearing deficits among middle-aged adults. It will apply and validate computational drift-diffusion models to understand individual differences in speech perception in noise.

August 2021

Maggie Zink has joined the SoundBrain Lab as a PhD student!

Publication accepted! McHaney, J. R.*, Tessmer, R.*, Roark, C. L., & Chandrasekaran, B. (accepted). Working memory relates to individual differences in speech category learning: Insights from computational modeling and pupillometry. Brain and Language. (*contributed equally)

May 2021

Publication accepted! Devaraju, D. S., Kemp, A., Eddins, D. A., Shrivastav, R., Chandrasekaran, B., & Hampton Wray, A. (in press). Effects of task demands on neural correlates of acoustic and semantic processing in challenging listening conditions. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

April 2021

Publications accepted!:

  • Roark, C. L., Smayda, K. E., &  Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Auditory and visual category learning in musicians and non-musicians. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
  • Llanos, F., Gnanateja, G. N., German, J., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). The neural processing of pitch accents in continuous speech. Neuropsychologia.

March 2021

Publication accepted! Feng, G., Li, Y., Hsu, S., Wong, P. C. M., Chou, T., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Emerging native-similar neural representations underlie non-native speech category learning success. Neurobiology of Language.

February 2021

Dr. Kevin Sitek has joined our lab as a post-doctoral fellow!

January 2021

Publication accepted! Roark, C. L., Paulon, G., Sarkar, A., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Comparing perceptual category learning across modalities in the same individuals. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

2020

November 2020

Publication accepted! Dial, H. R., Gnanateja, G. N., Tessmer, R. T., Tempini, M. L. G., Chandrasekaran, B., & Henry, M. L. (in press). Cortical tracking of the speech envelope in logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Publication accepted! Reetzke, R., Gnanateja, G. N., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Neural tracking of the speech envelope is differentially modulated by attention and language experience. Brain and Language.

June 2020

Graduate Student Jacie McHaney was awarded a second year of training on the Auditory and Vestibular Neuroscience (T32) training grant.

Dr. Chandrasekaran and Co-PI Dr. Abhra Sarkar, from the University of Texas at Austin, received an NSF Award titled "Novel Statistical Frameworks for Local Inference in Neuroscience of Learning." Congrats!

April 2020

Post-doctoral Fellow Casey Roark was awarded an F32 NRSA titled, "Shared and specific mechanisms of auditory and visual category learning." Congratulations, Casey!

February 2020

Abstract accepted: Roark, C. L., Reetzke, R., Llanos, F., McHaney, J. R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (May 2020). Learning Mandarin tone categories with natural speech and a non-speech homologue. Poster to be presented at the 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Chicago, IL.

2019

November 2019

Abstract accepted: Gnanateja, G. N., & Chandrasekaran, B. (January 2020). Context-dependent Auditory Processing in Individuals with Tinnitus. Poster to be presented at the 43rd Annual MidWinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, San Jose, CA. 

August 2019

Casey Roark has joined our lab as a post-doctoral fellow!

Publication accepted: Yi, H., Smiljanic, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (accepted). The Effect of Talker and Listener Depressive Symptoms on Speech Intelligibility. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

Publication accepted: Xie, Z., Zinszer, B. D., Riggs, M., Beevers, C., & Chandrasekaran B. (accepted). Impact of depression on speech perception in noise. PLoS ONE.

July 2019

Graduate Student Jacie McHaney was awarded the Auditory and Vestibular Neuroscience (T32) training grant fellowship. Funded by the NIH, this training grant is aimed to generate scientists who can address problems related to auditory and vestibular dysfunction through training in neuroscience and clinical aspects of hearing disorders.

April 2019

Publication accepted! Llanos, F., Xie, Z., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Biometric identification of listener identity from frequency following responses to speech. Journal of Neural Engineering.

Talk accepted: Llanos, F., Reetzke, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (May 2019). Proactive neural processing of native and non-native speech. Podium presentation to be presented at the 177th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Louisville, KY.

Nike Gnanateja has joined our lab as a post-doctoral fellow! 

2018

October 2018

Publication accepted for the Diehl special issue of Attention, Perception, & Psychoacoustics: Lau, J., Wong, P., & Chandrasekaran, B. (accepted). Interactive effects of linguistic abstraction and stimulus statistics in the online modulation of neural speech encoding. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

Publication accepted: Feng, G., Yi, H., Chandrasekaran, B. (accepted). The role of human auditory corticostriatal network in speech learning. Cerebral Cortex.

September 2018

The SoundBrain Lab has moved to the University of Pittsburgh!

June 2018

Post-doc Heather Dial received a travel award ($550) to attend the 10th annual meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language in Quebec City, Canada in August! 

Dr. Bharath Chandrasekaran received an Early Career Award from the Society for the Neurobiology of Language! He will be giving a talk at this year's annual meeting in Quebec City, Canada in August. 

May 2018

Publication accepted: Xie, Z., Reetzke, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Taking attention away from the auditory modality: Context-dependent effects on early sensory representation of speech. Neuroscience.

Talk accepted: Zinszer, B. D., Haye, T. A, Athey, A., & Chandrasekaran, B. (June 2018). Quality of frequency-following response to speech sounds linked with left prefrontal hemodynamic activity using fNIRS+EEG. Talk to be presented at the 2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Graduate students Zilong Xie and Rachel Reetzke successfully defended their dissertations! Congratulations!

April 2018

Post-doctoral Fellow Heather Dial was awarded an NIH/NIDCD NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship!

March 2018

Research associate Benjamin Zinszer was awarded the National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning's Open Project Grant!

February 2018

Poster accepted: Xie, Z., & Chandrasekaran, B. (June 2018). Dividing attention to the visual modality impairs the processing of continuous speech. Poster to be presented at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Singapore.

2017

December 2017

Poster accepted: McHaney, J. R., Zinszer, B. D., Smayda, K. E., Chandrasekaran, B. (March 2018). Effect of listening environment on cortical entrainment to continuous speech in older adults. Poster to be presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society 25th Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

Graduate students Boji Lam and Kirsten Smayda successfully defended their dissertations! Congratulations!

October 2017

Our undergraduate research assistant, Elise LeBovidge, received the Fall 2017 Undergraduate Research Fellowship ($1000) for her honors thesis titled: "Improving non-native speech production accuracy using semi-online pitch contour feedback."

Graduate student Rachel Reetzke was awarded the New Century Scholars Doctoral Scholarship from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation ($10,000). The intention of this program is to support strong doctoral candidates who will pursue a teacher-investigator career in the academic environment at the university/college level.

September 2017

Pacific Standard Magazine featured our article "Better late than never (or early): Music training in childhood is associated with enhanced decision-making" in a story located here!

August 2017

Graduate student Rachel Tessmer received the Moody Graduate Fellowship in Communication and the Graduate School Continuing Fellowship for the 2017-2018 school year.

Graduate student Rachel Reetzke was awarded the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School Named Endowed Continuing Fellowship for the 2017-2018 school year.

Publication accepted: Llanos, F., Xie, Z., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Hidden Markov Modeling of Frequency-Following Responses to Mandarin Lexical Tones. Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

July 2017

Graduate student, Rachel Reetzke, received a NIH Travel Award ($750) to attend the 6th International Conference on Auditory Cortex in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Publication accepted: Feng, G., Gan, Z., Wang, S., Wong, P. C. M., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Task-general and Acoustic-invariant Neural Representation of Speech Categories in the Human Brain. Cerebral Cortex

June 2017

Publication accepted: Smayda, K. E., Worthy, D. A., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Better late than never (or early): Music training in late childhood is associated with enhanced decision-making. Psychology of Music.

May 2017

Graduate student Rachel Tessmer received the Villarreal Outstanding Graduate Student in Speech-Language Pathology award!

March 2017

The Journal of Neurophysiology has highlighted our article "Stability and plasticity in neural encoding of linguistically-relevant pitch patterns" on social media!

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Catherine Xu, was awarded the Spring 2017 Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) for her project with graduate student mentor, Boji Lam, titled: Listening under stress: When working memory fails to work.

February 2017

Graduate Student, Boji Lam, was awarded the Donna Russell Fox Scholarship from the Texas Speech-Language Hearing Foundation!

January 2017

Publication accepted: Yi, H., Xie, Z., Reetzke, R., Dimakis, A. G., & Chandrasekaran, B. (accepted). Vowel decoding from single-trial speech-evoked electrophysiological responses: A feature-based machine learning approach. Brain and Behavior.  

Lau, J. C. Y., Wong, P., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). Context-dependent plasticity in the subcortical encoding of linguistic pitch patterns. Journal of Neurophysiology. has been highlighted as a Featured Article on the Journal of Neurophysiology homepage.

Publication accepted: Xie, Z.*, Reetzke, R.*, & Chandrasekaran, B. (accepted). Stability and plasticity in neural encoding of linguistically-relevant pitch patterns. Journal of Neurophysiology. (* co-first authors)

2016

October 2016

Please join us October 26th for the Second Language Acquisition Symposium: Advances in Behavioral and Neural Research! 

Graduate Student Kirsten Smayda is a recipient of the $500 Sallie P. Asche Travel Award for the Dallas Aging and Cognition Conference (January 28-30, 2017)!

August 2016

Publication accepted: Yi, H., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2016). Auditory categories with separable decision boundaries are learned faster with full feedback then minimal feedback. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 

June 2016

The SoundBrain Lab is hosting Visiting Scholar: Dr. Karen Banai from the University of Haifa. Please join us for her talk on Monday, June 27th from 1:00-3:00pm in CMA 4.126

Title: "Putting perception in context helps uncover its contribution to children's language skills"

Abstract: The association between linguistic and perceptual skills have been acknowledged for decades, but despite some agreement that perception must contribute to early language development, the role of perception in language processing beyond infancy remains debated. Earlier studies suggest that sensitivity to perceptual context, a process that allows perceivers to make implicit use of input-based regularities, is associated with individual differences in language skills even in adults. This talk will focus on whether perceptual context directly modulates language processing in children. Findings from a series of studies will be presented, which together suggest that perceptual-context can influence diverse linguistic processes ranging from syllable identification and recognition of speech in noise to naming and word learning. Limitations of the context approach and open questions will also be discussed.

Graduate Student Kirsten Smayda has received an NRSA grant titled, "Training for the Enhancement of Speech-In-Noise Processing Ability in Older Adults" with the award of $39,362 for three years. We will be experimentally testing the effect of group piano lessons on older adults' ability to understand speech in noise and the underlying cognitive and perceptual components. We will use a computer-based cognitive training program as a comparison condition and a social group as a control.

May 2016

Dr. Bharath Chandrasekaran won the Psychonomic Society Early Career Award for 2016!

Graduate Student Kirsten Smayda won the SEMPRE Travel Award for the 14th International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition!

Graduate student Rachel Tessmer presented two posters at the Acoustical Society of America conference in Salt Lake City, Utah:

  • Tessmer, R., Atagi, E., Bent, T., & Chandrasekaran, B. (May 2016). Categorization training for non-native accented word recognition. Poster presented at the 171st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Salt Lake City, UT.
  • Yi, H. G., Tessmer, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (May 2016). Optimizing Lexical Learning through Manipulation of Phonological Training Environment. Poster presented at the 171st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Salt Lake City, UT. [PDF]

April 2016

Our undergraduate research assistant, Whitney Barlow, has been featured by the School of Undergraduate Studies for her research on stuttering and brain activity that accompanies the learning of new sounds. Her research assistant video profile can be found here.

March 2016

Publication accepted: Smayda, K.E., Van Engen, K.J., Maddox, W.T., Chandrasekaran, B. (2016). Audio-Visual and Meaningful Semantic Context Enhancements in Older and Younger Adults. PLOS ONE, 11(3), e0152773.

Undergraduate research assistant Yuan Cat Han is a recipient of the Undergraduate Research Fellowship. She will receive $1000, which will be used to fund her honors project on speech category learning.

February 2016

Graduate Student Rachel Reetzke won the Association for Research in Otolarynology 2016 MidWinter Meeting Travel Award ($500)!

January 2016

Publication accepted: Reetzke, R., Chandrasekaran, B., & Maddox, W. T. (accepted). Hypothesis Testing. In M.H. Bornstein (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development. SAGE Publications.

2015

November 2015

Publication in Press: Chandrasekaran, B., Xie, Z., & Reetzke, T. (in press). Chapter 6. Music training and neural processing of speech: a critical review of the literature ln A. Agwuele & A. Lotto (Eds.), Essays in Speech Processes: Language Production and Perception. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing. Congratulations Rachel Reetzke and Zilong Xie!

Publication in Press: Maddox, W.T., Koslov, S., Yi, H., Chandrasekaran, B. (IN PRESS). Performance Pressure Enhances Speech Learning. Applied Psycholinguistics. Congratulations Seth Koslov and Han Yi.

October 2015

Our undergraduate research assistants, Lexi Smith and Whitney Barlow, are recipients of an Undergraduate Research Fellowship, They will each receive $1000 to help fund experiments for the fall semester!

A recent article by our very own, Rache Reetzke, has been featured online and will be published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology in February 2016. Reetzke, R., Maddos, W. T., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2016). The Role of Age and Executive Function in Auditory Category Learning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 142, 48-65.

A recent study in our lab by Kirsten Smayda was featured in the article "Music and the Aging Brain: New Research at UT-Austin Tests Cognitive Benefits of Music in Older Adults."

September 2015

Publication accepted: Chandrasekaran, B., Yi, H., Smayda, K., & Maddox, W. T. (in press). Effect of explicit dimension instruction on speech category learning. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

Publication accepted: Reetzke, R., Maddox, W. T., Chandrasekaran, B., (in press). The Role of Age and Executive Function in Auditory Category Learning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 

August 2015

"Enhancing speech intelligibility: Interactions among context, modality, speech style, and masker" by Van Engen, Phelps, Smiljanic, and Chandrasekaran (2014) received the Editor's Award from the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. This award recognizes the most impactful works that meet the highest quality standards in research design and presentation.

July 2015

Dr. Bharath Chandrasekaran received the 2015 Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award. This award recognizes faculty for outstanding classroom performance and dedication to innovation in undergraduate instruction.

June 2015

Our recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience was featured in a press release by UT News: "Foreign language learning in adults associated with genetic variation." 

May 2015

Publication accepted: Smayda, K., Chandrasekaran, B., Maddox, W. T. (2015). Enhanced cognitive and perceptual processing: A computational basis for the musician advantage in speech learning. Frontiers in Psychology.

Our recent study was featured in the Science Daily Journal: "Depressed People May Have Difficulty Following Emotional Speech."

April 2015

Publication accepted: Chandrasekaran, B., Yi, H., Blanco, N., McGeary, J. E., & Maddox, W. T. (in press). Enhanced procedural learning of speech sound categories in a genetic variant of FOXP2. Journal of Neuroscience.

A poster by two undergraduates in our lab, Nicole Tsao and Rachel Tessmer, was featured as one of 30 impressive undergraduate research projects.

March 2015

Han-Gyol Yi was awarded the Graduate School Endowed Continuing Fellowship for the 2015-2016 school year. This is a prestigious award that recognizes Han’s academic and research accomplishments as a graduate student at the university.

Publication accepted: Xie, Z., Maddox, W. T., McGeary, J. E., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). The C957T polymorphism in the dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) gene modulates domain-general category learning. Journal of Neurophysiology.

February 2015

Arielle Glick is a recipient of an Undergraduate Research Fellowship for the spring semester.

2014

December 2014

Publication accepted: Xie, Z., Maddox, W. T., Knopik, V. S., McGeary, J. E., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2015). Dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene modulates the influence of informational masking on speech recognition. Neuropsychologia.

November 2014

Publication Accepted: Xie, Z., Yi, H., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2014). Nonnative audiovisual speech perception in noise: Dissociable effects of the speaker and listener. PLoS ONE.

October 2014

Han-Gyol Yi had his research highlighted for the upcoming conference of the Acoustical Society of America. The lay-language paper, titled "How your genes may help you learn another language," is one of the features for the conference.

September 2014

Publication accepted: Yi, H., Smiljanic, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). The neural processing of foreign-accented speech and its relationship to listener bias. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Publication accepted: Yi, H., Maddox, W. T., Mumford, J. A., & Chandrasekaran, B. (in press). The role of corticostriatal systems in speech category learning. Cerebral Cortex.

July 2014

Publication accepted: Chandrasekaran, B., Koslov, S., Maddox, W. T. (in press). Toward a dual-learning systems model of speech category learning. Frontiers in Psychology.

Publication accepted: Chandrasekaran, B., Van Engen, K., Xie, Z., Beevers, C. G., & Maddox, W. T. (in press). Influence of depressive symptoms on speech perception in adverse listening conditions. Cognition & Emotion.

June 2014

Publication accepted: Maddox, W. T., Chandrasekaran, B., Smayda, K., Koslov, S., Yi, H., & Beevers, C. G. (in press). Elevated depressive symptoms enhance reflexive but not reflective auditory category learning. Cortex.

April 2014

Rachel Tessmer received the Award for Excellence in Psychology, Social Sciences and Human Development and Family Sciences ($500) presented by the College of Natural Sciences. She and coauthor Nicole Tsao from the UT Language Learning and Bilingualism Lab presented their poster "Audiovisual Integration in Speech Perception in Bilingual Speakers" at the Undergraduate Research Forum.

February 2014

Publication accepted: Van Engen, K., Phelps, J. B., Smiljanic, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2014). Effects of visual cue enhancement on speech intelligibility on clear and conversational speech. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research.

January 2014

Publication accepted: Skoe, E., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2014). The layering of auditory experiences in driving experience-dependent subcortical plasticity. Hearing Research.

2013

November 2013

Publication accepted: Gilbert, R., Chandrasekaran, B., & Smiljanic, R. (2013). Recognition memory in noise for speech of varying intelligibility. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Publication accepted: Maddox, W. T. & Chandrasekaran, B.* (2013). Tests of a dual-systems model of speech category learning. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.*Equal contribution.

Publication accepted: Skoe, E., Chandrasekaran, B., Spitzer, E., Wong, P. C. M., & Kraus, N. (2013). Human brainstem plasticity: The interaction of stimulus probability and auditory learning. Neurobiology of Learning.

Publication accepted: Chandrasekaran, B., Skoe, E., & Kraus, N. (2013). An integrative model of subcortical auditory plasticity. Brain Topography.

Publication accepted: Maddox, W. T., Chandrasekaran, B., Smayda, K., & Yi, H. (2013). Dual systems of speech category learning across the lifespan. Psychology and Aging.

October 2013

The SoundBrain Lab welcomed Dr. Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University. Dr. Kraus is a Hugh Knowles professor with departmental appointments in Communication Sciences, Neurobiology and Physiology, and Otolaryngology. Dr. Kraus was part of the Woolfolk Distinguished Lecture Series where she presented on Music and language: Reading, rhythm and neural synchrony.

Rachel Tessmer was awarded with an Undergraduate Research Fellowship offered by the Office of Vice Provost at the University.

August 2013

The SoundBrain Lab welcomes our new graduate students, Jasmine Phelps and Zilong Xie!

Han-Gyol Yi completed his Master's Thesis examining the role of listener factors in audiovisual speech integration. The findings presented in the thesis will also be available in Yi, Phelps, Smiljanic, & Chandrasekaran (2013).

Publication accepted: Ress, D., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2013). Tonotopic organization in the depth of human inferior colliculus. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Publication accepted: Chandrasekaran, B., Yi, H., & Maddox, W. T. (2013). Dual-learning systems during speech category learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

July 2013

Publication accepted: Yi, H., Phelps, J. E. B., Smiljanic, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2013). Reduced efficiency of audiovisual integration for nonnative speech. The Journal of Acoustical Society of America.

January 2013

The SoundBrain Lab moved to a NEW permanent and improved location in the CMB Room 3.112!

2012

October 2012

Ayesha Dadabhoy is a recipient of an Undergraduate Research Fellowship offered annually by the Office of Vice Provost at the University. Sarah Evans also was awarded with an Undergraduate Research Fellowship in order to fund the experiments going on in the SoundBrain Lab. Kathryn Curry was another research assistant in the lab that was awarded with an Undergraduate Research Fellowship to help fund experiments in the lab.

April 2012

As part of UT's Research Week the "IE Citizen Scholars" student organization held a poster session and contest. Posters for all participants were featured and judged at the Longhorn Research Bazaar on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. Jasmine Phelps from the SoundBrain Lab was recognized for her achievements and awarded $300 for her presentation on "Tone Category Learning and Production."

2011

September 2011

Han-Gyol Yi was awarded with the Donald Harrington Graduate Fellows Program at the University of Texas at Austin. The Harrington Graduate Fellows Program supports up to 16 Fellows each academic year with stipends that equal or exceed those of other prestigious fellowship programs. The reward includes: $36,000 annual stipend; $2,000 research support; $1,204 medical support; and full tuition exemption. Han is honored in this program until May 2014.