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Dr. Tara McAllister holding a biofeedback device under the chin of a young boy.

Research and Labs

Communicative Sciences and Disorders

The Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders has several active research labs run by faculty conducting innovative research. If you are interested in the research opportunities available in a particular lab, please contact the lab director.  

Lab Website: LEARN (Language Experience and Acquisition Research at NYU) Lab

Research Interests

  • Learning mechanisms underlying language acquisition in children
  • The role of caregiver-child interactions in learning language

Adam Buchwald

Professor; Director, Center of Health and Rehabilitation Research

buchwald@nyu.edu

Lab Website: Psycholinguistics, Aphasia, and Neuromodulation Lab

Research Interests

  • Speech and language production in aphasia, apraxia, and unimpaired speakers
  • Relationships between speech motor control and phonological processing
  • Written language processing in aphasia
  • Speech perception and its relationship to production

Maria Grigos

Professor; Department Chair

maria.grigos@nyu.edu

Lab Website: Motor Speech Lab

Research Interests

  • Speech motor development
  • Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS)
  • Development and disorders of articulation and phonology
  • Craniofacial anomalies

Eric S. Jackson

Associate Professor

Lab Website: the stuttering and vvariability (savvy) lab

Research Interests

  • Variability and neural substrates of stuttering events
  • Speech, stuttering, and social-cognitive processing
  • Anticipation

Susannah Levi

Associate Professor; Director of Undergraduate Studies

svlevi@nyu.edu

Lab Website: Acoustic Phonetics and Perception Lab

Research Interests

  • Relationship between talker processing, linguistic processing, and measures of language, reading, and working memory
  • Development of talker processing in children with both typical and impaired language development
  • Perception of gender and femininity/masculinity

Tara McAllister

Associate Professor; Director, Doctoral Program

tkm214@nyu.edu

Lab Website: Biofeedback Intervention for Speech Lab

Research Interests

  • Sensorimotor control of speech in children and adults
  • Biofeedback intervention for speech sound disorders
  • Technology development for speech applications

Lab Website: NYU Swallowing Research Lab

Research Interests

  • Understanding the biomechanics of healthy and disordered swallowing
  • Investigating age-related changes to swallowing muscles and the associated impact on swallowing function
  • Quantifying changes to swallowing after cervical spine surgery

Lab Website: Find Your Voice Lab

Research Interests

  • Voice and voice disorders
  • Neurogenic communicative disorders
  • Dysphagia

Lab Website: CoMM (Communication, Mind, and Memory)" Lab

Research Interests

  • Cognitive mechanisms of social communication across the lifespan
  • Language-Memory interactions in adults with and without memory impairment (e.g., neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s/Parkinson’s disease)
  • Processing of pragmatic language use

CSD Affiliate Faculty Members

Ryan C. Branski, PhD

Ryan C. Branski, PhD

Ryan Branski is the Howard A. Rusk Professor of Rehabilitation Research, Vice Chair for Research in Rehabilitation Medicine, and Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His laboratory seeks to develop and refine therapeutic approaches for diseases of the upper aerodigestive tract that manifest as speech, voice, and swallowing disorders. His collaborative team takes a regenerative medicine approach to these issues with a particular interest in localized delivery of gene therapy to the larynx as well as tissue engineering constructs to address deficits in communication and deglutition. Dr. Branski's laboratory is funded by the National Institutes of Health and he has published over 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He is a frequent speaker at national and international scientific meetings and is one of only a few investigators to be named Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association, the American Laryngological Association, and the Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. 

Aaron M. Johnson, MM, PhD, CCC-SLP

Aaron M. Johnson, MM, PhD, CCC-SLP

Aaron M. Johnson, MM, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a researcher and speech–language pathologist specializing in voice habilitation and rehabilitation and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at New York University School of Medicine. His research laboratory, funded by the National Institutes of Health, uses novel translational research methods to examine the effects of vocal training on laryngeal neuromuscular mechanisms in the aging larynx. As a clinician at the NYU Voice Center, he works with his physician colleagues to diagnose and treat voice disorders in performing artists. Both his research and clinical interests stem from his previous decade-long career as a professional classical singer and teacher of singing. Dr. Johnson holds degrees in vocal performance from Northwestern University, a certificate in vocology from the National Center for Voice and Speech, and a research doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is actively involved in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and is the former president of the Pan American Vocology Association.

Lab Website: Johnson Lab

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Students using audiology equipment and rainbow colored blocks.