Defne Abur, B.S.

Dept. of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

Boston University

Email: dabur@bu.edu

Research Interests

Speech Motor Control; Parkinson’s disease; Auditory contributions to voice production; Autophonic judgments of voice; Vocal Hyperfunction

Education

2017 – Present Ph.D., Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (expected), Boston University

2010 – 2014 B. S., Engineering Science with Biomathematics Concentration, Smith College

Honors and Awards

2020	ASHA Pathways program mentee
2020	National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Pre-doctoral fellowship “Longitudinal Changes to Speech in Parkinson’s Disease Phenotypes” NIDCD F31 DC019032
2019	ASHFoundation New Century Doctoral Scholarship
2019	Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS) Conference Student Fellow Award
2019	Dudley Allen Sargent Research Fund Award
2019	Raymond H. Stetson Scholarship in Phonetics and Speech Science, Honorable Mention
2018	Rafik. B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science Engineering Graduate Student Fellow Award
2017	NIH/NIDCD Traineeship T32DC013017 “Advanced research training in communication sciences and disorders”
2017	2^nd Place, Best Poster Award, The Voice Foundation Annual Symposium
2013	Sigma Xi (Research Honor Society)
2012 – 2014	NSF Fellowship 1129194 “Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biology and Mathematical Sciences”

Publications

(For a full list, see Google Scholar)

First author

Abur, D., MacPherson, M. K., Stepp, C. E. (In Press) Acoustic Measures of Voice and Physiologic Measures of Autonomic Arousal during Speech as a Function of Cognitive Load in Older Adults. Journal of Voice.

Abur, D. & Stepp, C.E., “Acuity to Changes in Vocal Pitch in Parkinson’s disease”. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(9), pp. 3208-3214, 2020.

Abur D., Enos, N.E., Stepp, C.E., “Visual-Analog-Scale Ratings and Orthographic Transcription Measures of Intelligibility in Parkinson’s disease with Variable Listener Exposure”, American journal of speech-language pathology, pp. 1-11, 2019.

Abur, D., Lupiani, A.A., Hickox A.E., Shinn-Cunningham, B.G., Stepp, C.E. “Loudness Perception of Pure Tones in Parkinson’s disease”, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61 (6), pp. 1487 – 1496, 2018.

Abur, D., Lester-Smith, R.A., Daliri, A., Lupiani, A.A., Guenther, F.H., Stepp, C.E. “Sensorimotor Adaptation of Voice Fundamental Frequency in Parkinson’s Disease”, PLoS ONE, 13(1): e0191839, 2018.

Abur, D., Horton, N.J., & Voss, S.E. “Intra-subject variability in Power Reflectance”, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 25(5), 441 – 448, 2014.

Middle author

Weerathunge, H. R., Abur, D., Enos, N., Brown, K., Stepp, C.E., “Methodological Considerations for Auditory-Motor Perturbations of f_o: feedback delay and amplification”. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(9), pp. 2846-2860, 2020.

Kearney, E., Nieto-Castañón, A., Weerathunge, H.,Falsini, R., Daliri, A., Abur, D., Ballard, K., Chao, S., Heller Murray, L., Scott, T., & Guenther, F. (Accepted), “A Simple 3-Parameter Model for Examining Adaptation in Speech and Voice Production”. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2995, 2020.

Broadfoot, C. K., Abur, D., Hoffmeister, J. D., Stepp, C.E., Ciucci, M. “Research-Based Updates in Swallowing and Communication Dysfunction in Parkinson Disease: Implications for Evaluation and Management”, Perspectives of ASHA Special Interest Groups SIG 3. 4(5), pp. 825 – 841, 2019.

Stepp, C.E., Lester-Smith, R.A., Abur, D., Daliri, A., Noordzij, J.P., Lupiani, A.A. “Evidence for Auditory-Motor Impairment in Individuals with Hyperfunctional Voice Disorders”, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60 (6), pp. 1545 – 1550, 2017.

MacPherson, M., Abur, D., Stepp, C.E. “Acoustic measures of voice and physiologic measures of autonomic arousal during speech as a function of cognitive load”, Journal of Voice, 31 (4), pp. 504e1 – 504e9, 2016.

Stieger, C., Abur, D., Merchant, J., Roushan, K., Farahmand, R., Rosowski, J.J., Nakajima, H.H. “Experimental Audiology: Pressure Measurements in the cochlea to investigate the sound transmission”, Biomedical Engineering-Biomedizinische Technik, V59, 773 – 774, 2014.