Matthew Masapollo, PhD

Assistant Professor

Principal Investigator of the Speech Motor Control Lab

Associate Member, OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center

(405) 271-4214, ext. 46056

Matthew-Masapollo@ou.edu

As a motor neuroscientist, I study how the human brain learns to produce skillful articulatory movements. What are the basic principles that underlie the control and learning of these movements? Which brain areas are involved in controlling these movements? What is the impact of sensory deficits on these movements? Experimentally, I focus on kinematic analyses of articulatory movements and functional brain imaging of speech production. Results of these investigations hold broad implications for speech motor control and learning in patient populations with congenital and acquired sensorimotor deficits (e.g., profoundly deaf children who receive cochlear implants; head and neck cancer patients).

For fuller descriptions of the lab and motor speech research at OU Health Sciences, please see this link: Speech Motor Control Lab

Education:

Postdoc, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2017-19
Postdoc, Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, 2016-17
Ph.D., Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC, 2016
B.A., Cognitive and Linguistic Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2010

Teaching:

CSD 3443/7443/7033: Foundations of Speech and Language Development
CSD 5133/9333: Research Foundations in Communication Disorders

Societies and Organizations:

Acoustical Society of America
Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Society for the Neural Control of Movement

Clinical/Research Interests:

Sensorimotor Neuroscience
Plasticity in Human Motor and Sensory Systems
CNS Networks for Speech Production
Speech Motor Coordination and Control
Articulatory Physiology
Afferent Auditory and Oral Somatosensory Inputs
Soft Robotics and Artificial Muscle Actuators

Funding:

OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, Sensorimotor control of speech movements by patients with head and neck cancer following treatment, Cancer Therapeutics & Cancer Prevention and Control Seed Grant Program, Principal investigator, 2025-26.
Presbyterian Health Foundation, Sensorimotor control of speech movements by cochlear implant recipients, Seed Grant Program, Principal investigator, 2025-26.
Hearing Health Foundation, Contributions of auditory and somatosensory feedback to speech motor control in congenitally deaf 9-to-10-year-olds and adults, Emerging Research Grant. Principal investigator, 2021-23.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, Mechanisms of speech motor sequence learning, New Investigators Research Grant. Principal investigator, 2021-23.

Select Publications:

Masapollo, M., Stewart, A., Ludwig, A., Maxfield, N., & Nittrouer, S. (2026). Temporal coordination of articulatory movements across speech segments: Fixed onsets with flexible kinematic trajectories. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 159, 3241–3256. DOI: 10.1121/10.0043331
Masapollo, M., Nittrouer, S., Gendron, R., Maxfield, N., & Ostry, D.J. (2026). Precision of tongue control for task-relevant articulatory goals diminishes without real-time auditory feedback. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 69(4), 1419–1437. DOI: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/2025_JSLHR-25-00514
Masapollo, M., Rodriguez, A., Gendron, R., Kent, K., Thomas, H., & Nittrouer, S. (2025). Generalization of inter-articulator timing control: evidence from tongue-jaw and lip-jaw kinematics using electromagnetic articulography. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. DOI: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00323.
Masapollo, M., & Nittrouer, S. (2023). Inter-articulator speech coordination: timing is of the essence. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(3), 901-915. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00594.

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