Students and faculty from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) attended the American Auditory Society (AAS) conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, on February 26-28, where several earned competitive national awards and presented their research in audiology and hearing science.
Two USF students received the prestigious Mentored Student Research Poster Presentation Award, funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The award recognizes and promotes mentored research programs for doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars and medical trainees. Recipients are selected through a highly competitive blinded review process.
Gabriella Brown, a first-year student in the Doctor of Audiology program mentored by Jungmee Lee, PhD, and Dimitri L. Brunelle, a doctoral student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program mentored by Michelle Kapolowicz, PhD, were selected for the honor.
Dimitri L. Brunell with his poster at the American Auditory Society conference.
“As a PhD student, travel funding can be a significant barrier to attending conferences, so knowing the reviewers found our work compelling enough to provide support was validating. It was an honor to represent USF CSD at AAS,” Brunelle said.
Brown presented “The Quick Speech-In-Noise Task: Does Practice Matter?” co-authored with Lindsey Kummerer, Robert Lutfi, PhD, and Lee. Brunelle presented “Subclinical Hearing Loss, Neural Encoding, and Cholinergic Modulation in Tinnitus,” co-authored with Anna Lise Barksdale, Jaide Van Pelt, Joseph Walton, PhD, and Kapolowicz.
In addition to the mentored research award, Brown was selected to give a podium presentation at the Student Travel Award Poster Forum, based on merit scores from a blinded review. The forum allowed her to deliver a five-minute presentation to conference attendees before the poster session.
“I was definitely shocked when I was selected for these two awards, since I am only a first-year Doctor of Audiology student,” Brown said.
Brown noted that applying for the conference and travel award pushed her to complete analyses for a research project she has been working on since her undergraduate years at USF.
“The entire conference opened my eyes to the research side of audiology and emboldened me to pursue my research even more,” she said. “It was such an amazing experience to have the support of so many USF CSD faculty and students.”
Heesung Park at the American Auditory Society conference.
Heesung Park, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow, received the New Investigator Travel Award for the presentation “Target-Shift and Target-Motion Release from Masking Using Continuous Speech,” co-authored with Hoonki Chun; Nathan Higgins, PhD; and Erol Ozmeral, PhD.
CSD faculty also presented research highlighting advancements in hearing health care and outcomes:
- Christopher Brown, PhD: "Interaural Differences and Top-Down Attention Shape Activity in Prefrontal Cortex," "Listening Strategy Directly Affects Auditory Cortical Responses," and "High-Frequency Fricatives Increase the Efficacy of Interaural Level Differences."
- Varsha Rallapalli, PhD, AuD, CCC-A: “Cognitive Abilities and Variability in Self-Reported Hearing Aid Outcomes.”
- Victoria Sanchez, PhD: "Predictors of Objectively-measured Hearing Aid Hours of Use in ACHIEVE," with co-authors , Akash Yallamati, Venkata Sai Teja Renangi,, Michelle Arnold, PhD, AuD, and Theresa Chisolm, PhD, CCC-A.
- Arnold: "Accessibility and Affordability of Hearing-Healthcare for Adults: A Mapping Review."
Other USF students who presented at the conference included:
- Harrison C. Holmes, a student in the Doctor of Audiology program: “Evidence of Subclinical Cochlear Dysfunction in Young Adults with Tinnitus.”
- Sophia Kreismer, a student in the Doctor of Audiology program: “Effects of Environment on Speech Recognition With Advanced Noise Reduction.”
- Claire Dorey, AuD, a student in the Doctor of Communication Sciences and Disorders program and Lara Luedeman, a student in the Doctor of Audiology program: “The Role of Extended High Frequencies in the BKB Test.”