Dr. Nancy Stecker, Ph.D., is a clinical associate professor in our audiology department. Dr. Stecker’s clinical and research expertise is in central auditory processing disorders (CAPD). Auditory processing is a term used to describe what happens when the brain recognizes and interprets sounds and words. People with auditory processing disorders have difficulty processing auditory information. Along with CAPD patients, Dr. Stecker also works with patients with tinnitus. Tinnitus is the ringing, whistling, buzzing sound that is perceived by some people in the ears or head. Dr. Stecker is largely involved with tinnitus evaluations and therapy for the current tinnitus study at UB entitled, “Randomized Trial of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy”. This study, headed by Dr. Christina Stocking at UB, was developed at the University of Iowa and is evaluating the effectiveness of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. Click on 'read more' for the rest of the article.

On April 1, 2008, the New York Times published an article entitled, "New Therapies Fight Phantom Noises of Tinnitus" by Kate Murphy, referencing the University at Buffalo's Center for Hearing and Deafness. The center is largely involved in the research of tinnitus. This article focused on the several therapies that are being used and researched to alleviate the symptoms of tinnitus. Tinnitus is the medical term for the phantom noises in the ear or head when there is no audible outside source of sound. It is the ringing, buzzing, whistling sound that can be very problematic to some depending on the severity. Several therapies have been tried, but the most promising are based on breakthroughs in research in recent years about the brain activity of people with tinnitus. People with hearing loss can suffer from especially intense tinnitus due to the increase of 'neural static' as Dr. Salvi refers to it. With a hearing loss, normal auditory stimulation is weakly received to the brain. The brain tries to increase the volume but in doing so is only increasing noise, analogous to trying to turn up an out of tune radio. Dr. Salvi was quoted saying, "the static could be 'neural noise' – the sound of nerves firing. Or, it could be a leftover sound memory". Most recent therapies for tinnitus focus on masking, or partially masking the tinnitus with a noise generator. Most effective is the Neuromonics device that delivers a spectrally modified neural stimulus embedded in custom music. This device has been successful for many patients. Several other therapies are being studied to measure their effectiveness, such as functional MRIs, surgical implantations, muscle releasing therapy, and the use of certain drugs. Salvi stated, "We've never been so hopeful of finding treatments for a disorder that haunts people and follows them everywhere they go". Pictured is a lab room in the Center. Click on 'read more' for information on the Center of Hearing and Deafness.

Dr. Jeff Higginbotham, director of the Center for Excellence in Augmented Communication (CEAC) at the University at Buffalo, and partner in the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Communication Enhancement (AAC-RERC), is involved with several projects that focus on the communication performance of augmented communicators, how communication technologies can be designed to improve performance, and also the development of new technology to enable augmented communicators to access the internet as a vocabulary source. The University at Buffalo, along with several other schools and agencies including Duke University, Temple University, Penn State University, University of Nebraska, and Boston's Children's Hospital and Augmentative Communication, Inc., are all members of the AAC-RERC, a collaborative research group committed to the development of effective AAC technology. The AAC-RERC is in its 10th year as an active research center and is 1 of 20 CEAC centers throughout the entire country. Dr. Higginbotham's research in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) investigates the communication performance of AAC users, studies how those individuals have conversations using communication devices, and also studies how that technology impacts AAC users' ability to communicate successfully. Click on ‘read more’ for the rest of the article.

Dr. JoAnn Hammer, Au.D., is a clinical assistant professor and supervisor in our department. As a clinical supervisor she is responsible for graduate student training at the University Clinic in diagnostic audiology, hearing aid evaluations and fitting, central auditory processing, and tinnitus evaluation and treatment. Dr. Hammer is also employed at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center, in which her particular area of expertise is pediatric and adult cochlear implantation evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation, as well as hearing aid dispensing.
Dr. Hammer serves as the Audiology Externship Coordinator for 2nd and 3rd year Au.D. students. She is responsible for placement and supervision of students in community agencies. In addition, Dr. Hammer supervises several Au.D. required student research projects, particularly in the areas of music appreciation, speech perception, and quality of life in cochlear implant users.
In May of 2004, Dr. Hammer received a recognition award from the Speech Language and Hearing Association of Western NY for outstanding service in the field of audiology. Pictured is Dr. Hammer with a patient at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center. For more information, you can contact Dr. Hammer at jhammer2@buffalo.edu.

Donna M. Ringholz is a clinical assistant professor in our department. One of the several programs in which Donna is involved is collaborating with local Head Start Centers to provide preschool speech, language, and hearing screenings. The UB Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic currently completes free screenings for preschool children at local Head Start Centers during the summer and fall semesters. Children who do not pass the screenings are referred for further testing and additional services if necessary. This program allows our graduate students to gain practical experience with the preschool population, and provides early identification and prevention for students who do not pass initial screenings. Donna is currently working to obtain grant funds in order to continue to provide screening services. Click on 'read more' for the rest of the article.

Gretchen Swartzenberg is a clinical assistant professor and supervisor in our department. In 2002, Gretchen established UB Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic’s Social Language Program for Children with Asperger’s and Autism. She mainly works with children and adults who have been diagnosed with pragmatic disorders, high functioning autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and non-verbal learning disabilities. The individual and group services focus on the development of communication skills, particularly in the area of pragmatic language. The therapy largely focuses on the use of appropriate interaction skills in home, social, and academic situations and has an emphasis on peer interactions. The group setting is used to provide numerous opportunities for role play and practice of targeted interaction skills for the enhancement of language. During the summer an intensive program is offered four days a week. Additionally, Gretchen has been involved with a young adult group that was just started in 2007. Therapy sessions for young adults focus on conversational and friendship skills, job search/interviewing skills, as well as dating skills. For more information on these programs, please contact Gretchen at gas1@buffalo.edu.

Dr. Sussman collaborated on many successful projects in 2007-8. One was a publication in the Journal of Neuroimaging with Dr. Alan Lockwood, a neurologist at the University of Buffalo and the Veteran’s Administration, Mr. David Wack, a Ph.D. student in the Department of CDS and others. We found that when older adults attended to certain speech syllables compared to a background of others, the anterior cingulate (associated with attention processing), the auditory cortex (the main part of the brain associated with hearing), supplementary and primary sensory-motor cortex and posterior left frontal cortex (associated with motor programming for speech) became activated. This result provided evidence of how the brain makes decisions during speech discrimination and attention tasks. Click on 'read more' for more on Dr. Sussman's research.

Dr. Stathopoulos' work centers around the function of the laryngeal and respiratory components during speech. In the past, much of her work has focused on children's speech production. More recently, she is investigating laryngeal and respiratory function across the life span. She is presenting preliminary data at the Speech Motor Control Conference in Monterey California. These acoustic data are interesting in that they reflect the speech motor control from speakers aged 4 - 90 years and substantiate the perceptual changes that we hear in people's voices. As we grow old, our voices become weaker and breathier sounding, and some of us develop a tremor in our voices. Interestingly, children's voices are more variable than young adults and middle aged speakers, but older adults produce speech with even more variability than very young children. Click on 'read more' for details on Dr. Stathopoulos' research.