Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Unlocking the Mysteries of Speech Processing

Friday, September 2, 2022, By Renée Gearhart Levy
Share
College of Arts and SciencesNational Institutes of HealthPediatric Auditory Laboratory

Beth Prieve has spent nearly the entirety of her career studying hearing loss in infants. While previous research used clicks and tone bursts to measure infant hearing, her latest project explores hearing response to natural speech.

Baby undergoing auditory test

An NIH grant awarded to CSD Professor Beth Prieve is funding a study on infant auditory response.

The two-year study, funded by a $440,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, will make use of a new auditory tool developed by co-investigator Ross Maddox, associate professor of biomedical engineering and neuroscience at University of Rochester Medical Center, that uses spoken words from an “Alice in Wonderland” audiobook to measure infant auditory response to the brainstem and cortex. “I’m very interested in looking at the entire auditory system to understand how humans process sound,” says Prieve, professor of communication sciences and disorders and founder of the Pediatric Auditory Laboratory in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Now we will use actual speech, which is fantastic because we have to the potential to find some differences in babies who might have a language processing problem.”

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, more than 12,000 babies are born each year with some degree of hearing loss. Prieve, who is both an audiologist and neuroscientist, says the ability to efficiently process spoken speech through the hearing system is critical for learning spoken language. Problems with speech processing ultimately affect academic performance and social interactions. Pre-term infants, specifically, have a higher chance of having language delay, learning disability, autism and hearing loss than infants born at full term, and often one type of problem gets confused with another.

Professor Beth Prieve

Professor Beth Prieve

Prieve anticipates the data gathered through the study will help untangle deficits in the auditory system from other neurological problems. The project will measure the infant response to both traditional testing methods using short clicks, as well as the new tool using running human speech, testing both pre-term and term infants 5 months old or younger. “We’re laying the groundwork by testing babies without a hearing loss to see what their responses look like,” she says. “From there, we’re hoping to answer some more intriguing and deeper questions in children with known hearing loss and other language-based disorders.”

Under a previous grant, Prieve and Maddox collected pilot data using the running speech tool by testing the hearing of 13 babies in the NICU at Crouse Hospital.

Prieve and Maddox believe the project has the potential to move the field forward in understanding language acquisition and communication disorders. “We’re trying to unlock mysteries on how speech is processed. There are a lot of kids born with language problems and sometimes, such as with autism, they don’t get diagnosed until three or four years of age. What if we can find a technique that gives us some idea earlier if this child needs intervention?” Prieve says. “We anticipate that the results could directly impact intervention decisions for infants and toddlers.”

  • Author

Renée Gearhart Levy

  • Recent
  • Syracuse University’s Summer College Announces 2023 Discounts
    Monday, February 6, 2023, By Hope Alvarez
  • University Monitoring Wind Chill Warning for Friday, Feb. 3
    Thursday, February 2, 2023, By News Staff
  • NASA Honoring Those Who Were Aboard Space Shuttle Columbia And Other Late Astronauts
    Thursday, February 2, 2023, By Julia Mazzer
  • NFL, Eagles and Chiefs All Set To Win The Economics Game In Super Bowl LVII
    Thursday, February 2, 2023, By Julia Mazzer
  • CEOs Requiring In Person Work Is Hurting Diversity
    Thursday, February 2, 2023, By Julia Mazzer

More In Health & Society

Navigating Healthy Relationships This Valentine’s Day

It’s hard to miss the approach of Valentine’s Day if you step into most U.S. stores this time of year. Products and advertisements are blanketed in pink and red, reminding customers of all the merchandise they can buy to demonstrate…

Learn Skills for Loving the Body You’re in With The Body Project Virtual Workshop

The prevalence of diagnosed eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, are on the rise in the U.S., as Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital reports that as many as 30 million Americans have an eating disorder. Many…

New Research Shows Pandemic’s Toll on Frontline Health Care Workers

For frontline health care workers, the mental health impact from the pandemic is extending beyond career burnout. Much of the attention on the mental toll suffered by frontline workers has focused on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). New research from a…

Psychology Professor Part of Two Grants Totaling Over $5M to Advance Alcohol-Related Research

During his nearly 30-year career at Syracuse University, Stephen Maisto, professor emeritus of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, has devoted much of his research to the assessment and treatment of substance use disorders. Continuing that work, Maisto was…

Former Syracuse University Athletic Trainer Credited With Performing Life-Saving CPR on Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin

Former Syracuse University football athletic trainer Denny Kellington is being praised for helping save the life of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin after Hamlin collapsed on the field in the first quarter of a “Monday Night Football” game vs. the…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.