Communication Sciences & Disorders

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• Auditory Research Lab
• Child and Adolescent Language Lab (CALL)
• Clinical Research in Neurogenic Communication Disorders Lab (CRNCS)
• Computational, Speech, Sensory, Development & Diseases Lab (CSD²)
• Hearing Aid Research Lab (HARL)
• Infant and Toddler Language Laboratory
• Neural Bases of Communication and Swallowing
• Psychoacoustic Research Lab
• Research Applications in Clinical Education (RACE)
• Sensory-Neural Engineering Research Laboratory
• Sign Language Research Lab
• Stuttering Research Laboratory
• Video Analysis Lab

Auditory Research Lab

Focus of Lab

Lab Website: http://www.csd.jmu.edu/arl/

Research currently being conducted in the Auditory Research Lab is concerned primarily with issues involving plasticity (the ability to accommodate change) in the auditory system. We are especially concerned with plasticity as it impacts the system's responds to cochlear injury and hair cell regeneration. Over the past 10 years we have specifically been studying the functional and anatomical consequences of regeneration of auditory hair cells during development and after trauma. Understanding the impact of hair cell regeneration on central auditory connections and on hearing in birds has substantial reference to enhancing our knowledge of human hearing. by understanding the consequences (both antatomical and functional) of sensory cell replacement in birds we can better predict the structural and functional consequences of deafness and auditory restoration (either electronic - cochlear implants, or biochemical - human hair cell replacement) in humans. Funding sources for this laboratory since its establishment at JMU in 1989 have exceeded $1.8 million dollars. Sources of funding have included National Institutes of Health/Institute on Deafness and other Communicative Disorders, Department of Veterans Affairs Research and Development, Deafness Research Institute, American Hearing Research, Special Olympics.

Personnel

• Dr. Brenda Ryals, Director
• Deb Leap, Senior Laboratory Technician/Research Assistant

Current Projects

NIH/ NIDCD R01DC001372 to Robert J. Dooling (UMD) and Brenda M. Ryals (JMU)NIH/NIDCD P30 DC04664-01A2 to Robert J. Dooling (Principal Investigator-UMD) and Brenda M. Ryals (Core Investigator – JMU)