A Legacy of Clinical Impact

Sandra Gordon-Salant
1982 New Investigators Research Grant, University of Maryland
Suppressing Low Frequency Amplification and its Effect on Hearing Impaired Listeners' Consonant Perceptions in Noise

“Sandra Gordon-Salant was my academic and research advisor throughout my academic career, which spanned over 14 years. In my current position as a Scientific Reviewer/Audiologist at the Food and Drug Administration, I use many of the research fundamentals that she instilled in me from that first day in her lab. Importantly, she taught me how to assess the quality and rigor of the clinical research studies that I now come across.”

— Julie Cohen, AuD, PhD
Lead Scientific Reviewer/Audiologist, ENT Devices Team
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Karen Iler Kirk
1993 New Investigators Research Grant, Indiana University
The Effects of Talker and Speaking Rate on Word Recognition by Adult Cochlear Implant Users

“Karen Iler Kirk’s work examining how cochlear implant (CI) users cope with variability in talkers and speaking rates has directly shaped the way I approach assessment and intervention, reminding me to incorporate different speakers and test conditions that reflect real-world listening challenges. Her findings have also informed how I teach in my aural rehabilitation courses, illustrating for students how perceptual normalization and variability in speech signals influence CI users’ performance and everyday communication. Finally, her research has guided my own scholarly work by emphasizing the importance of studying individual differences and the perceptual processes underlying word recognition to better support adults and children who are deaf or hard of hearing across settings.”

— Elizabeth Walker, PhD, CCC-A/SLP
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Associate Professor
University of Iowa

Pamela Souza
1995 Student Research Grant in Audiology, Syracuse University
Effect of Compression Amplification on the Temporal Cues of Speech for Hearing-Impaired Listeners

“In my work as a clinician-scientist, Pamela Souza’s research has provided a foundational framework for how I think about compression and individual differences in hearing aid outcomes. Her work showed tradeoffs in preserving critical speech cues, shaping my approach to both clinical decision-making and research design. This matters because patients with similar audiograms often respond very differently to compression strategies, and her framework helps us move beyond audibility alone when optimizing amplification. It continues to guide my work examining how cognitive and perceptual factors interact with hearing aid processing to influence real-world benefit.”

— Varsha Rallapalli, AuD, PhD, CCC-A
Assistant Professor
University of South Florida

Elizabeth Crais
1987 New Investigators Research Grant, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Story Retelling and Inferencing Skills in Language Learning Disabled Children

“As a long-time colleague of Betsy's, I can attest to the major influence her research and clinical practices in engaging families had on our entire Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences. At one point, students were making jokes about how many times they heard the "f" word across their classes—which in this case referred to the word, "families." As a research collaborator, Betsy was a consistent voice advocating for our clinical research with children to incorporate the perspective of the parents as we designed and tested assessment tools and interventions. In addition, Betsy's seminal work on the developmental sequence of gestures in young children informed the design of our screening tool to identify infants and young toddlers at elevated likelihood for a later autism diagnosis, as well as the development of intervention targets for minimally verbal autistic preschoolers and for infants and toddlers showing early symptoms associated with autism.”

— Linda R. Watson, EdD
Professor Emeritus
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Shelley Gray
1996 Student Research Grant in Early Childhood Language Development, University of Arizona
Vocabulary Deficits in Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Identification Accuracy of Norm-Referenced Tests and a Language Learning Task

“In my role as an early language and literacy coach and trainer, Dr. Gray’s research has a major impact on the approach we use in introducing and teaching vocabulary to young children. Her research and teaching shapes how we help early childhood educators select vocabulary, teach new words, and emphasize vocabulary development throughout the curriculum. As early educators adopt strong vocabulary teaching skills, they provide young children with the language development and word learning skills that build a foundation for their future as strong and accomplished readers!”

— Stephanie Williams MS, CCC-SLP

Holly Storkel
2000 New Investigators Research Grant, Indiana University
Word Learning in Children with Functional Phonological Delays

“In my work as a clinician, and later as a scientist whose work focused on the language development of children with hearing loss, Dr. Storkel’s research shaped my understanding of how children learn words, including the impact of the acoustic phonetic properties of words. This allowed me to think about how the auditory experiences of children with hearing loss may impact their learning of different words based on the word characteristics. This matters because to ensure optimal effectiveness of interventions designed to facilitate word learning for children with hearing loss, those interventions must be designed to address the unique learning challenges presented by their hearing differences."

— Sophie Ambrose, PhD, CCC-SLP
Research Participant Services Core Manager
Boys Town National Research Hospital

Swathi Kiran
2002 New Investigators Research Grant, University of Texas, Austin
Effect of a Semantic Based Naming Treatment on Crosslinguistic Generalization in Bilingual Patients With Aphasia

“As a clinician, Dr. Kiran’s research has shaped how I think about aphasia and rehabilitation of aphasia in multilinguals. I am always considering the best place to start treatment and the question of what language to start with often gets asked by families. Thinking about theories of bilingualism and their application to aphasia treatment promotes me to consider various approaches to aphasia rehabilitation, with the understanding that treatment of aphasia in general, as well as treatment of multilingual aphasia is never a 'cookie cutter' approach.”

— Elizabeth Galletta, PhD, CCC-SLP
National Aphasia Association Board of Directors

Kris Tjaden
2000 New Investigators Research Grant, University at Buffalo
The Relationship between Speaking Rate, Measures of Speech Production and Perception of Speech Severity in Parkinson's Disease

“Kris Tjaden’s impact on the dysarthria literature cannot be overstated. Her work has shaped how we understand behavioral speech cues, such as speaking louder, slower, or clearer, and their effects on speech production and perceived severity in dysarthria associated with Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and other neurologic conditions. Her scholarship exemplifies scientific rigor and has set a standard for thoughtful, precise work in our field. She represents the best of our discipline: brilliant, prolific, and deeply kind.”

— Austin Thompson, PhD, CCC-SLP
Assistant Professor
University of Houston