headshot of Tara McAllister

Tara McAllister

Associate Professor; Director, Doctoral Program

Communicative Sciences and Disorders

tara.byun@nyu.edu
212-992-9445
Website
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Tara McAllister is a linguist and speech-language pathologist whose work leverages technology to enhance speech skill acquisition in both typical and clinical populations. As director of the Biofeedback Intervention Technology for Speech (BITS) Lab at NYU, she has overseen more than a decade of NIH-funded research showing that visual-acoustic and ultrasound biofeedback can accelerate progress in children with speech sound disorder. Dr. McAllister directs the development of the staRt app for visual-acoustic biofeedback, which has been downloaded over 20,000 times, as well as the resonance module of the TruVox app for gender-affirming voice training. She is a co-author of Clinical Phonetics (Shriberg, Kent, McAllister, Preston, & Speights), a widely used textbook now in its sixth edition. She holds degrees from Harvard, Boston University, and MIT.

Link to academic website

Selected Publications

  • McAllister, T., Eagen, C., McKenna, V. S., Shan, Y., Traver, P., Garner, J., Harel, D., Park, T. H., & Novak, V. D. (in press). Real-time resonance biofeedback for gender-affirming voice training: Usability testing of the TruVox web-based application. Journal of Voice.
  • McAllister, T., Preston, J. L., Benway, N. R., Hill, J., Lara, M. P., Leece, M. C., Liang, W., & Hitchcock, E. R. (2026). Rhotic acquisition is more rapid in biofeedback than motor-based treatment for residual speech sound disorder: Primary outcome of a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, early online. DOI: 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00909
  • Eads, A., Kabakoff, H., King, H., Preston, J. L., & McAllister, T. (2024). An articulatory analysis of American English rhotics in children with and without a history of residual speech sound disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 67(11), 4246-4263. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00037
  • Ayala, S.A., Eads, A., Kabakoff, H., Swartz, M., Shiller, D.M., Hill, J., Hitchcock, E.R., Preston, J.L., & McAllister, T. (2023). Auditory and somatosensory development for speech in later childhood. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(4), 1252-1273. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00496 Link to postprint and code
  • McAllister, T., Eads, A., Kabakoff, H., Scott, M., Boyce, S.E., Whalen, D.H., & Preston, J.L. (2022). Baseline stimulability predicts patterns of response to traditional and ultrasound biofeedback treatment for residual speech sound disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65(8):2860-2880. DOI: 10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00161 Link to postprint and code
  • Peterson, L., Savarese, C., Campbell, T., Ma, Z., Simpson, K. O., & McAllister, T. (2022). Telepractice treatment of residual rhotic errors using app-based biofeedback: A pilot study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(2), 256-274. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00084
  • Kawitzky, D., & McAllister, T. (2020). The effect of formant biofeedback on the feminization of voice in transgender women. Journal of Voice, 34(1): 53-67. DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2018.07.017
  • Li, J.J., Ayala, S., Harel, D., Shiller, D, & McAllister, T. (2019). Individual predictors of response to biofeedback training for second-language production. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146(6), 4625. 
  • McAllister Byun, T., Inkelas, S., & Rose, Y. (2016). The A-map model: Articulatory reliability in child-specific phonology. Language, 92(1), 141-178.
  • McAllister Byun, T., & Tessier, A.-M. (2016). Motor influences on grammar in an emergentist model of phonology. Language and Linguistics Compass 10(9), pp. 431-452.
  • Long, M.A., Katlowitz, K.A., Svirsky, M., Clary, R.C., McAllister Byun, T., Oki, H., Howard, M.A., Greenlee, J.D.W. (2016). Functional segregation of cortical regions underlying speech timing and articulation. Neuron, 89(6), 1187-1193.
  • McAllister Byun, T., Halpin, P. F., & Szeredi, D. (2015). Online crowdsourcing for efficient rating of speech: A validation study. Journal of Communication Disorders, 53, 70-83.
  • Klein, H., McAllister Byun, T., Davidson, L., & Grigos, M. (2013). A multidimensional investigation of children’s /r/ productions: Perceptual, ultrasound, and acoustic measures. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22, 540-553. DOI: 10.1044/1058-0360(2013/12-0137)
  • McAllister Byun, T., & Hitchcock, E. (2012). Investigating the use of traditional and spectral biofeedback approaches to intervention for /r/ misarticulation. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21, 207-221. DOI: 10.1044/1058-0360(2012/11-0083)

Courses

Critical Evaluation of Research in CSD

The principles of evidence-based practice are essential for ethical and effective decision-making in the clinical setting. In this course, students build and grow their skills in obtaining and evaluating research by learning about different research designs, strategies, and related concepts including reliability and validity. Students ask and answer clinically relevant questions as informed, active consumers of the research literature and practice communicating their findings in a clinically accessible manner.
Course #
CSCD-GE 2109
Credits
2
Department
Communicative Sciences and Disorders

Speech Science: Instrumentation

To make informed decisions about diagnosis and intervention, clinicians must start from a thorough understanding of all aspects of the speech chain: sound production, transmission, and perception by the listener. Students gain knowledge of physiological, aerodynamic, and acoustic properties of typical and clinical speech throughout the lifespan. This course prepares students to use instrumental techniques in the clinical setting to measure and/or treat aspects of articulation, resonance, phonation, and perception.
Course #
CSCD-GE 2125
Credits
2
Department
Communicative Sciences and Disorders