The Motor Speech Laboratory at Purdue University encompasses several spaces within Lyles-Porter Hall on Clinic Drive in West Lafayette, Indiana. Our main analysis space is on the third floor, room 3176. Our Speech laboratory is dedicated to the collection of respiratory, laryngeal, articulatory, and acoustic data and is located on the third floor in room 3025. We have a space on the first floor and one on the third floor, the Communication, Mobility, and Balance laboratories dedicated to the integration of speech, posture, and gait data collection and analysis. Dr. Huber’s office is located on the third floor, room 3174.
Our laboratory collaborates with researchers within the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences department at Purdue, outside the department at Purdue, at the Indiana University Medical Center, and at a number of other Universities.
The Motor Speech Laboratory is equipped with instrumentation to study the respiratory, laryngeal, and articulatory speech systems and to understand how these systems work together to support speech production. A Respitrace system is available for the collection of respiratory data. A Glottal Enterprises airflow and air pressure system and a KAYPENTAX Electroglottograph are available for the collection of laryngeal data. High quality microphones (wired and wireless) are used to transduce acoustic signals and assess articulation. The Communication, Mobility, and Balance laboratories are equipped with instrumentation to assess and treat balance and gait. Equipment include a NeuroCom Smart Equitest Balance Master, a Polhemus Magnet Motion Tracking System, and gaming peripherals. The data analysis laboratory is equipped with multiple permanent computer work stations.
The lab staff includes one full-time Research Associate, a postdoctoral research fellow, doctoral students, Master’s Speech-Language Pathology students, and 10-15 undergraduate students each semester.
Principal Investigator:
Jessica E. Huber, Ph.D.
Phone: 765-494-3796
Email: jhuber@purdue.edu
Dr. Huber received the 2014 Outstanding Commercialization Award for Purdue University Faculty. See her acceptance speech along with comments and testimonials from patients using the SpeechVive device.
Lab Manager:
Sandy Snyder, B.S.
Phone: 765-494-6488
Email: snyder33@purdue.edu
Sandy Snyder is a full-time Research Associate in the Speech Physiology Laboratory. She joined the lab in fall 2009. She schedules participants for studies being conducted within the laboratory, collects data from participants, directs and organizes the undergraduate and graduate students regarding lab tasks, and assists with data file management and analysis. Sandy studied kinesiology and agriculture economics previously at Purdue.
Doctoral Students:
Anny Alvar, B.S.
Email: aalvar@purdue.edu
Anny Alvar is a Ph.D. student in the Huber laboratory. She is interested in neural and physiologic systems associated with speech and language that guide our responses to both internal and external cues/stimuli and how changes in these systems affect communication. Her other interests include the use of technologies associated with the “maker movement” to better assist individuals with communication disorders and to help enhance education of those who serve these populations.
Brianna Kiefer, M.S.
Email: kiefer4@purdue.edu
Brianna Kiefer is a Ph.D. student in the Motor Speech Laboratory. She completed her M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology at Purdue in 2017. She conducts speech treatment studies for individuals with neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Parkinson disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Her research focuses particularly on understanding how these diseases and various speech treatment paradigms affect respiratory physiology, communication, cough production, and quality of life. She is also interested in understanding how principles of general motor learning and control transfer to speech motor processes.
Collaborators:
Previous Doctoral Students:
Meghan Darling-White, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Arizona
Meghan Darling-White, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a former doctoral student in the lab. Her long term goal is to develop and validate interventions that have an impact on functional speech production skills in individuals with motor speech disorders. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the relationship between respiratory support for speech and functional speech production skills, such as speech intelligibility. Meghan’s dissertation utilized the Expiratory Muscle Strength Training program to examine how enhancing expiratory muscle strength impacted speech production in individuals with Parkinson disease. Meghan is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona.