Multicultural Research Lab

In the Multicultural Lab, research is conducted to examine the effects of language background, aging, and environmental factors on auditory function. Specific projects address how bilingual/multilingual language background and language impairment impact speech perception in adults and children. Another project examines how aging and cigarette smoking influence central auditory function as evaluated through evoked potentials. The impact of secondhand smoke and noise are additional environmental variables that are examined in relation to hearing ability and tinnitus occurrence in young adults. A broad goal of the Multicultural Research Lab is to examine how cultural variables impact educational curricula for audiologists and speech pathologists with a focused interest in advancing culturally responsive clinical practice in the professions.

Facilities

Multicultural research is conducted in the lab and in the community with appropriate equipment including sound shielded booths (in lab), diagnostic and screening audiometers, noise measuring apps, and multichannel evoked potential systems. Additional objective auditory assessments are conducted with impedance and OAE equipment.