ONGOING PROJECTS
Image-Based Frequency Re-allocation For Optimizing Cochlear Implant Programming (Pediatric)
This study examines cochlear implant electrode placement using CT (Computed Tomography) scans from before and after cochlear implant surgery and tests how adjustments to cochlear implant programs (maps) change how a patient hears. The Developmental Disabilities Lab has collaborated with the Cochlear Implant Research Lab to test how adjustments to maps may change how pediatric patients listen to sounds, words, and phrases. This project is run in collaboration with Dr. Rene Gifford and Dr. Rob Labadie and is funded by a Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Seed Grant.
Currently recruiting through the Cochlear Implant Research Laboratory.
Listening Effort and Fatigue in School-Aged Children
This study examines how children with mild/moderate hearing loss and their peers listen during a variety of different tasks and over the school day. Children are given language and literacy tests before and after school and also participate in a variety of activities at Vanderbilt. Fatigue is measured using subjective, objective (reaction time), hormonal (salivary cortisol) and neurological (EEG) metrics. This project is run in collaboration with Dr. Fred Bess, Dr. Ben Hornsby, and Dr. Sasha Key, and is funded by the Institute of Educational Sciences.
Currently recruiting through the Listening & Learning Lab.
Altered Multisensory Processes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
This project examines whether children with ASD show alterations in the temporal aspects of visual and auditory function when compared to TD children. Additional comparisons include whether children with ASD demonstrate changes in the ability to resolve sequential, rapidly occurring visual and auditory events and whether children with ASD show a change in the temporal “window” within which they bind visual and auditory stimuli into a unitary event. This project is run in collaboration with Dr. Mark Wallace through the Multisensory Research Project at the Vanderbilt Brain Institute.
Sensory Coding Project
In order to test an intervention, researchers must first be able to accurately define and measure the variables involved in the intervention. In collaboration with Dr. Lucy Miller, researchers on this project aim to codify variables from sensory integration therapy in order to test intervention effectiveness.
RECENT PROJECTS
Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary in Children with Developmental Disabilities
This study examines how children with developmental disabilities learn novel words both expressively (talking) and receptively (understanding). This project was funded through the Institute of Educational Sciences. This project is current in publication and pre-publication stage.