Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

Research in the CARES lab aims to improve our understanding of communication challenges faced by school-age children with and without hearing differences. We use a combination of subjective, behavioral, and electrophysiologic methods to learn about listening effort, attention allocation, and the effects of intervention (e.g., hearing aids, remote microphones) on communication. Results from our work provide valuable information to audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and teachers of children who are deaf and hard of hearing about environmental and child-specific characteristics that contribute to communication breakdowns.

Our Mission

We believe that elevated hearing levels should not keep children and adolescents from fully experiencing their social and academic potential. Our mission is to conduct original research that improves our understanding of communication challenges faced by children in classrooms. As such, we seek to:

1. Understand how childhood hearing loss and its associated interventions (e.g., hearing aids, remote microphones) influence the successful development of listening skills needed for academic success,
2. Convey our research findings to the community,
3. Involve undergraduate and graduate students in the research process to inspire future researchers and assist in the training of audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and deaf educators.