Principal Investigator
Dr. Matthew (Matt) Masapollo is the director and principal investigator of the Speech Communication Laboratory (est. 2020). He received his Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from McGill University (under Dr. Linda Polka) and completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one in Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Science at Brown University (under Dr. James L. Morgan), and one in Speech and Hearing Science at Boston University (under Dr. Frank H. Guenther).
The overall goal of Masapollo’s research program is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying human speech production and perception and how languages use those mechanisms. Current projects aim to characterize (i.) the critical control parameters that govern speech motor coordination; (ii.) the effects of congenital auditory deficits on speech production; and (iii.) effects of neuromuscular disorders on speech production, using state-of-the-art electromagnetic articulography.
Main Research Interests
- Speech motor control and coordination
- Functional synergies and coordinative structures
- Speech motor learning
- Speech perception
Funding/Awards
Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research (TIGRR). 2022
Emerging Research Grant, Hearing Health Foundation. 2021
Research Opportunity Seed Fund Award, UF Research. 2021
New Investigators Research Grant, American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation. 2020
Contact Matt
- Email: mmasapollo@phhp.ufl.edu
- Phone: (352) 273-6095
- Location: HPNP 2127
- Office Hours: By appointment
- Courses: Articulatory, Acoustic, and Auditory Phonetics (SPA 3003); Speech Perception in Phonetics (Course Code & Schedule TBD); Sensorimotor Control of Speech (Course Code & schedule TBD)
Publications
For a full listing of Matt’s publications please see our research page.
Students and Trainees
Graduate Students
Allen Shamsi is a doctoral student in Linguistics (PI: R. Wayland). His pre-dissertation research is quantifying the articulatory correlates of speech motor sequence learning, using electromagnetic articulography.
Undergraduates
Jessica Goel is an undergraduate studying Biomedical Engineering. Her honors thesis project aims to develop optimal methods for combining electromagnetic articulography and electroglottography to quantify motor coordination between laryngeal and supralaryngeal articulators during speech production.
Siddhi Kondapalli is an undergraduate studying Applied Physiology and Kinesiology. His thesis project is investigating how the lips, tongue, jaw, and glottis work together to produce smooth and coordinated movements during skilled speech production.
Aleena Alex is an undergraduate studying Biomedical Engineering. Her research project is investigating test-retest reliability of electromagnetic articulography during speech production tasks.
Grant Oberle is an undergraduate majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders. His honors thesis project is examining the role of auditory feedback on speech motor control in congenitally deaf cochlear implant users and their normal hearing counterparts, using electromagnetic articulography. This work is supported by a scholarship from the University Scholars Program (UF Center for Undergraduate Research).
Kayleigh Burge is an undergraduate majoring in Biology. Her honors thesis project is examining the role of somatosensory feedback of the tongue on speech motor control in congenitally deaf cochlear implant users and their normal hearing counterparts, using electromagnetic articulography.
Abigail Lebedeker is an undergraduate majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her honors thesis project is examining the development of inter-articulator speech production in young children, using electromagnetic articulography.
Ana Rodriguez is an undergraduate majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her honors thesis project is investigating (i.) how the lips, tongue, and jaw work together to produce smooth and coordinated vocal tract movements during skilled speech production, using electromagnetic articulography, and (ii.) whether (and how) extent of skill in coordinating speech movements relates to phonological language skills. This work is supported by a Robert W. Young Award for Undergraduate Student Research in Acoustics from the Acoustical Society of America
Riya Bhakta is an undergraduate majoring in Biomedical Engineering. She is assisting with an electromagnetic articulography data acquisition and analysis.
Kara Kent is an undergraduate majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her research project is investigating the nature of coordinative structures (functional synergies between articulators) for the control of speech production, using electromagnetic articulography.
Lab Alumni
Nicholas Salazar, B.CS., (2022)
Mahmoud Fakhouri, B.Eng., (2022)
Jessica Smith, B.H.S., (2022), Thesis: “Organization of articulatory gestures for phonotactically legal and illegal syllable onset clusters: an electromagnetic articulography study”
Julia Ginter, B.H.S., (2022), Thesis: “Spatiotemporal orchestration among the jaw and tongue tip during VCV utterances: an electromagnetic articulography study”
Morgan Powell, B.S., (2022)
Angelise Bulit, B.A., (2021)
Emily Zezas, B.H.S., (2021), Thesis: “Specificity of speech motor sequence learning,” recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Scholar Award from the UF Alumni Association & Honors Program.
Cassandra Chappell, B.H.S., (2021), Thesis: “Generalization as a window to speech motor sequence chunking”
Abigail Cragin, B.H.S., (2021)
Ariel Gordon, B.H.S., (2021)
Sophia Benson, B.H.S., (2021)