Speech production is arguably the most complex motor skill that is routinely performed by humans, and among the most skilled motor actions performed by any species. During typical conversational interactions, talkers produce up to six to nine syllables per second, a feat that relies on the rapid and precise coordination of lip, jaw, tongue, and laryngeal movements. Our laboratory is trying to understand how the brain controls speech movements, how those movements change with motor learning early in development, and how those movements recover from diseases that affect the physiology of the articulators. Current projects focus on speech motor control by adult and child cochlear implant recipients and head and neck cancer patients following oral surgery and/or radiation therapy. 

Research Aim 1: Understanding how the human brain coordinates and controls speech movements

During speech production, humans are capable of generating up to six to nine syllables per second, a skill that relies on swift and precise coordination of the articulators (lips, tongue, jaw). This project strives to elucidate how people coordinate and regulate those movements.

Research Aim 2: Understanding how humans learn to produce coordinated speech movements early in development

When first learning to talk, a fundamental challenge for children is to learn which coordinated sets of vocal tract movements produce particular speech sounds. This project studies speech motor learning in adolescents with sensorimotor deficits (e.g., hearing loss, cleft lip or palate) and their neurotypical peers. 

Research Aim 3: Understanding the contributions of auditory and somatosensory afferent signals to the control of coordinated speech movements

       
Our research goal is to explicate how sensory information (auditory, proprioceptive) goes into the brain and affects how people move their vocal tract in service to speech production. This line of investigation examines speech motor control in people who experience long-term degraded auditory and oral somatosensory inputs (e.g., deaf people who receive cochlear implants; oral cavity cancer patients following surgery or radiation procedures).