Audiology Specialization

The Aural Rehabilitation Lab is directed by Dr. Brittan Barker and housed in the Department of Communicative Studies and Deaf Education at Utah State University. Our multilayer research program works to describe, understand, and facilitate effective communication in people relying on listening and spoken language. To this end, we conduct experimental and qualitative research with people of all ages and with all levels of hearing.

Research in the Cognitive Hearing Science Lab directed by Dr. Naveen Nagaraj is driven by basic questions about information processing in the human brain during listening in noise. Using behavioral and electrophysiological experiments we are trying to understand the dynamic interplay between cognition and speech perception in individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and those with auditory processing deficits. Currently active studies in the lab are designed to examine how school-age children with normal hearing who have auditory processing difficulties, understand speech in challenging listening environments (such as noisy classrooms) and how their performance can be improved. The long-term goal is to apply what is learned from this line of research to clinical management in children who have difficulties processing spoken language, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The Hearing Health Laboratory studies why people complain of having hearing loss or difficulty hearing, especially conversations in noisy environments. We aim to understand pathologies and diseases of the auditory system and develop new clinical tools to diagnose these pathologies so that better treatment can be provided for people suffering from hearing loss. Our current study is trying to help people who feel they have difficulties hearing in noisy environments but may have “normal hearing” or mild hearing loss when diagnosed with standard hearing tests at the doctor’s office or audiology clinic. We collaborate with the Aural Rehabilitation Lab at USU and Communications Engineering Laboratory at Boys Town National Research Hospital to conduct several of our studies.

The  Listening and Spoken Language Lab explores parent and professional factors that facilitate and/or interfere with spoken language outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The mission of the Listening and Spoken Language lab is to increase our understanding of parent and professional factors that facilitate/interfere with outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing learning to communicate using spoken language.