Recruiting for Current Research

Factors Associated with Vocal Health Among Charismatic Church Singers

This research aims to investigate awareness and knowledge of the voice, the factors that relate to vocal health in a church setting. This includes training, behavior, and the church environment relating to voice changes. Volunteers will complete an online survey (approx. 20 minutes). Help aid future work concerning church singers in charismatic churches by participating!

Contact:  Charles Ratcliff, Charles.R@memphis.edu
Eligibility: Ages 18-60 years old with no history of voice disorders, and proficient in reading English.
Duration/Compensation: approximately 20 minutes, no monetary compensation
Survey link: https://memphis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4GyTGuRbqlrYy6W

Refining the Sound Acceptability Test (SAT)

The Hearing Aid Research Laboratory (HARL) is conducting this study to refine the instructional materials and presentation of the Sound Acceptability Test (SAT).

Contact: Monique Pousson mpousson@memphis.edu or text 901-848-7880
Eligibility:

• Have experience in audiological assessments
• Are fluent in English
• Are literate in order to understand written instructions
• Have sufficient visual acuity to read.

Duration: 1.5 hrs
Compensation: $15

A comparison of listeners’ abilities to recognize emotion contained in two types of speech stimuli.

The Hearing Aid Research Laboratory (HARL) is conduction this study to determine whether one of the two test materials used is more sensitive to capture emotion recognition abilities. This will help decide the materials one should use in hearing research to assess emotion recognition.

Contact: Monique Pousson mpousson@memphis.edu or text 901-848-7880
Eligibility:

• Be 18—30 years old
• Have no hearing difficulties
• Be fluent in English
• Have good self-rated health and adequate literacy for completing the consent form

Duration: 1.5 to 2 hrs
Compensation: $15

Preference for Different Types of Hearing Aid Signal

Contact: Madison Rousse, mcrousse@memphis.edu, 901-678-5848
Eligibility: ages 18-30, fluent English speaker
Duration/compensation: 1 hour, no compensation

The Hearing Aid Research Lab is conducting a study about young people's preferences for different types of sounds. You will be asked to listen to different recordings from hearing aids and choose which you prefer. Participation will take 1 hour. For more information or to sign up, email @mcrousse@memphis.edu or call 901-678-5848.

The Role of Background Music Familiarity in Cortical Speech Tracking

Contact: Jane Brown, jbrown64@memphis.edu, 443-841-5461
Eligibility: ages 18-35, native English speaker, normal hearing, no history of brain injury/neurological issues, less than 3 years of musical training
Duration/Compensation: Up to 3.5 hours, $10/hour

This study is looking at how different types of background music affect speech comprehension. You will listen to an audiobook with different pop songs playing in the background while having your brain activity recorded using an EEG cap. You’ll also complete a musicality test to give you a measure of how musical you really are!

Emotion Regulation Strategies’ Effects on the Voice

Contact: Voice, Emotion, and Cognition Lab, voiceemotioncognition@gmail.com, 901-678-2607
Eligibility: ages 18-70, normal hearing
Duration/Compensation: 90 minutes

We have openings through April and early May for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. Email us with your availability! Volunteers, ages 18 to 70 with normal hearing are needed for research on how emotion regulation strategies affect our voices. The purpose of this research is to examine if, and to what degree, the way in which we regulate our emotions affect the sound of our voice.

The volunteer will participate in watching pictures of emotional content while engaging in specific emotion regulation strategies and vocalizing. The study should last about 90 minutes.

There is no monetary compensation.

A Comparison of Monitored Live Voice and Computer Assisted Word Recognition

Contact: Kathryn Ladner at kfladner@memphis.edu or Allie Austin at kaustin3@memphis.edu
Eligibility: Individuals between 18 and 80 years old with any degree and amount of sensorineural hearing loss in at least one ear.
Duration/Compensation: Approximately 1 hour, $15

This study seeks to determine whether it is faster to conduct word recognition testing with recorded, computer-assisted materials or with monitored live voice. You will have a complete hearing evaluation and answer some basic demographic questions. There is no risk associated with participation and participation is completely voluntary. Primary availability is after 4:30 pm on weekdays. 

Multi-level Neural Assessment of Auditory Function During Speech Listening

Contact: Alise Holloway, chllway4@memphis.edu
Eligibility: ages 18-40, normal hearing, native English speaker, right-handed, no evidence of outer or middle ear dysfunction, no history of brain injury/neurological issues
Duration/Compensation: Approximately 2 hours, $10 per hour

We are seeking young adults with normal hearing for a study evaluating simultaneous EEG/speech audiometry measurement. The future goal of the study is to develop a clinical protocol to allow audiologists to perform speech audiometry and measure neural encoding of speech sounds from brainstem to cortex simultaneously and quickly.  We hope you can help