Audiology assistant professor receives research award

Dr. Jing Shen, assistant professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, was recently awarded the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Early Career Research Award. The prestigious award, worth $300,000, will allow Dr. Shen to expand her research on speech perceptions and dynamic pitch.

Her research is guided by three aims:

• Establish the contribution of spectral perception to individual variability in dynamic pitch benefit among other individuals with hearing loss
• Determine the role of dynamic pitch glimpsing ability in dynamic pitch benefit for speech perception in noise among older individuals with hearing loss
• Identify the relationship between older individuals’ ability to utilize pitch cues for stream segregation and dynamic pitch benefit in speech maskers

Dr. Shen looks forward to both the challenge and opportunity that her research will bring. 

“I am truly grateful for this support to my career development as a researcher – I owe it to my mentors, family and friends who have always been there for me,” Dr. Shen says. “I will take it as my responsibility to always challenge myself in becoming wiser and stronger in what I do – there is just so much work ahead.”