25th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
Stepp lab undergraduate Courtney Dunsmuir ’24 recently presented her summer research conducted through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at BU’s 25th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, held at Boston University on October 21, 2022.
Courtney’s research explored the differential contributions of auditory and somatosensory feedback control mechanisms of laryngeal and articulatory speech subsystems in persons with Parkinson’s disease.
We would like to congratulate Courtney for her wonderful presentation and continued contribution to research conducted under Stepp Lab! She is also a recipient of Fall UROP 2022 funding.
Courtney Dunsmuir and her poster titled “Investigation of Auditory and Somatosensory Feedback in Vocal and Articulatory Motor Control Function for Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease”.
Congratulations, Dr. McKenna!
Congrats to Dr. Victoria McKenna, who passed her dissertation defense entitled "The Relationship between Physiological, Acoustical, and Perceptual Measures of Vocal Effort." She will be furthering her academic career as a post-doctoral researcher at Purdue University under the mentorship of Dr. Jessica Huber.
Victoria McKenna presents at the 3rd Annual Boston University Data Science Day
Victoria McKenna was one of 15 students chosen to present her research at the 3rd Annual Boston University Data Science Day, held on Friday January 26th. She presented a two-minute lightning-talk and poster presentation on the relationship betweenphysiological mechanisms and the self-perception of vocal effort.
Dr. Cara Stepp and Jenny Vojtech present their research at Delsys
On October 27th, Dr. Cara Stepp and Jenny Vojtech presented a talk on "Predicting optimal surface electromyographic control of human-machine interface devices in individuals with motor impairments" as part of the quarterly Delsys Seminar Series.
For more information about the talk, visit the Delsys Seminar Series page for the event.
Stepp lab undergraduates present at the 20th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
On October 13th, Stepp lab undergraduates Nicole Enos, Jake Noordzij, and Nadia Oleinik presented their summer research conducted through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at BU's undergraduate research symposium.
Nicole Enos presenting a poster entitled "Comparing visual-analog-scale ratings and orthographic transcription estimates of intelligibility in naive listeners."
Jake Noordzij presenting a poster entitled "Effects of pitch and speech rate on the intelligibility, communication efficiency, and perceived naturalness of synthetic speech in augmentative and alternative communication."
Nadia Oleinik presenting a poster entitled "Hearing Threshold and the Acoustic Stapedial Reflex."
Defne Abur selected as NIH T32 Predoctoral Trainee
Defne Abur has been selected as a predoctoral trainee for a Boston University Institutional Training Grant (T32) from the NIH/NIDCD.
Nicole Enos wins UROP Outstanding Student Researcher Award!
Nicole Enos '19 received an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Outstanding Student Researcher Award for her work in the Stepp Lab. Congratulations Nicole!!
Version 1 automated RFF algorithms available for download!
Dr. Lien's final dissertation study has been accepted for publication in the Annals of Otology, Laryngology, and Rhinology:
Lien Y.S., Heller Murray E.S., Calabrese C., Michener C.M., Van Stan J., Mehta D.D., Hillman R.E., Noordzij J.P., Stepp C.E. “Validation of an algorithm for semi-automated estimation of relative fundamental frequency”, Annals of Otology, Laryngology, and Rhinology, In Press.
Our first version of publicly available automated algorithms to estimate relative fundamental frequency (RFF) are now available! You can read more about RFF, download the scripts, and get directions on their use here.
Stepp lab members attend 7th International Conference on Speech Motor Control!
Stepp lab members Gabriel Cler, Elizabeth Heller Murray, and Dr. Cara Stepp had an awesome trip to 7th International Conference on Speech Motor Control (http://www.slp-nijmegen.nl/
VoiceTx available in the Google Play Store!
VoiceTx is a flexible mobile application for the documentation of voice therapy that is now available in the Google Play Store. The app is free and compatible for download on all Android platforms.
Try it out and tell us what you think at stepplab@gmail.com!
Defne Abur wins a Best Poster award at the Annual Voice Foundation Symposium!
Congratulations to Dr. Megan MacPherson, Defne Abur, Adrianna Shembel and Dr. Cara Stepp for receiving the second place award for Best Poster at the 46th Annual Voice Foundation Symposium! Their poster was entitled "Autonomic and Acoustic Measures during Speech as a Function of Cognitive Load in Healthy Older Adults".
