Christopher R. Watts, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office: HHS 1137
Phone: 568-3868
Email: wattscr@jmu.edu

Research and Teaching Areas:

Vocal Physiology
Voice Disorders
Motor Speech Disorders

Research Laboratory

Vocal Function Laboratory

Current and Ongoing Research Projects:

Histological structure of vocal fold tissue secondary to elastin gene deletion/mutation
Perceptual and acoustic investigation of voice in heritable connective tissue disorders
Motor speech and cognitive-linguistic function in subtypes of Parkinson’s disease
Influence of timbre and perception on vocal control of fundamental frequency

Publications (last 5 years)

Watts C, Marler J, Urban Z. (in review). Point mutations of the elastin gene affect voice production. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology.

Watts C, Truong D, Nye C. (in press). Evidence for the effectiveness of botulinum toxin for spasmodic dysphonia from high-quality research designs. Journal of Neural Transmission.

Moore R, Estis J, Zhang F, Watts C , Marble E. (in press). The relationship of pitch matching, pitch discrimination, and otoacoustic emission suppression. Perceptual and Motor Skills.

Moore R, Estis J, Hickey S, Watts C . (in press). Pitch Matching and Pitch Discrimination Abilities with Vocal and Non-vocal Stimuli. Journal of Voice.

Moore R, Keaton C, Watts C (in press). The Role of Pitch Memory in Pitch Discrimination and Pitch Matching. Journal of Voice .

Watts C, Barnes-Burroughs K, Estis J, & Blanton, D. (2006). The singing power ratio as an objective measure of singing voice quality in talented and non-talented singers. Journal of Voice , 20 (1): 82-88.

Watts C, Nye C, Whurr C. (2006). Botulinum Toxin for Treating Spasmodic Dysphonia (Laryngeal Dystonia): A Systematic Cochrane Review. Clinical Rehabilitation, 20 (2).

Watts C, Moore R, McCaughren K, Carr M. (2005). The relationship between vocal pitch-matching-skills and pitch discrimination skills in untrained accurate and inaccurate singers. Journal of Voice , 19 (4): 534-543.

Barnes-Burroughs K, Watts C, Brown O, & Lovetri J. (2005). The visual/kinesthetic effects of melodic contour in musical notation as it effects vocal timbre in singers of classical and music theatre repertoire. Journal of Voice , 19 (3): 411-419.

Watts, C., Nye, C., & Whurr, R (2004). Botulinum toxin for spasmodic dysphonia (Cochrane Review). The Cochrane Library, Issue 3 (July 2004).

Watts, C., Barnes-Burroughs, K., & Andrianopoulos, M., Carr M. (2003). Potential factors related to untrained singing talent: a survey of singing pedagogues. Journal of Voice, 17 (3), 298-307.

Watts, C., Murphy, J., & Barnes-Burroughs, K (2003). Pitch-matching accuracy of trained singers, untrained subjects with talented singing voices, and untrained subjects with non-talented singing voices in conditions of varying feedback.. Journal of Voice, 17 (2), 187-196.

Rousseau, B. & Watts, C. (2002). Susceptibility of speakers with Parkinson disease to delayed auditory feedback. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 10(1), 41-49.

Watts, C. & Early, S. (2002). Corticosteroids – effects on voice. Current Opinion in Otolaryngology, 10(3), 168-172.

National and International Conference Presentations (last 5 years)

Watts C, Marler J (2006, November). Dysphonia and Salient Voice Characteristics Secondary to Connective Tissue Disorders. ASHA Convention, Miami , FL.

Watts C , O’Donoghue C, Marler J (2006, November). Motor Speech Profiles in Subtypes of Parkinson’s Disease. ASHA Convention, Miami , FL.

O’Donoghue C, Watts C , Marler J (2006, November). Differential Cognitive-Linguistic Profiles in Subtypes of Parkinson’s Disease. ASHA Convention, Miami , FL.

Hickey S, Moore R, Estis J, Watts C (2006, November). Pitch-Matching and Pitch Discrimination to Vocal and Tonal Stimuli. ASHA Convention, Miami , FL.

Watts C, O’Donoghue C, Marler J. (2006, June). The Clinical Relevance Of Tremor-Dominant and Akinetic-Rigid Dominant Subtypes of Parkison's Disease.5th International Conference on Speech Motor Control. Nijmegen, Netherlands.

O’Donoghue C, Watts C, Marler J. (2006, June). Cognitive-linguistic and motor speech performances in tremor-dominant and akinetic rigid dominant subtypes of Parkinson's disease. 5th International Conference on Speech Motor Control . Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Marler J, Watts C. (2006, June). Speech encoding as reflected in phonological processing tasks in children with Williams syndrome. 5th International Conference on Speech Motor Control. Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Marler J, Watts C (2005, November). Phonetic & phonemic development in children with Williams syndrome. ASHA Convention, San Diego, CA..

Moore R, Estis J, Zhang F, Watts C, Marble E (2005, November). Relationship of pitch matching, pitch discrimination, & otoacoustic emission suppression. ASHA Convention, San Diego .

Hall M, Watts C., Sommers M. (2005, November). Acoustic models of vocal deception: a critical evaluation. 4th Annual Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting, Toronto , Canada .

Watts C. (2005, October). Vocal use patterns and risk factors in members of the clergy: preliminary data. University of California – San Francisco Voice Conference . San Francisco , CA .

Watts C, Hall M (2005, June). The influence of timbre on pitch-matching accuracy. 34 thAnnual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. Philadelphia , PA.

Archambeault N., Barnes-Burroughs K, LoVetri J., Watts C. (2005, June). Pedagogical Applications for Jazz and Classical Voices Revealed Through Voice Recognition Software. 34 thAnnual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. Philadelphia , PA

Watts, C., Nye, C, Whurr, R. (2004, November). Randomized control trials utilizing botulinum toxin for spasmodic dysphonia. ASHA Convention, Philadelphia, PA.

Wilson, K, Watts, C. (2004, November). Acoustic measures of swallowing during the use of compensatory techniques. ASHA Convention, Philadelphia, PA.

Keaton, C, Moore, R, Watts, C. (2004, November). Role of Pitch Memory in Pitch Matching and Pitch Discrimination ASHA Convention, Philadelphia, PA

Watts, C, Xu, Y. (2004, June). Investigating the relationship between pitch-matching accuracy and maximum laryngeal neuromotor performance. 33rd Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. Philadelphia, PA.

Barnes-Burroughs, K, Watts, C, Brown, O, Lovetri, J. (2004, June). The visual/kinesthetic affects of melodic contour in musical notation as it affects vocal timbre in singers of classical and musical theatre repertoire. 33rd Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. Philadelphia, PA.

Moore, R, Watts, C, Zhang F. (2004, May). The role of timbre in pitch matching abilities and pitch discrimination abilities with complex tones. Annual Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. New York, N.Y.

Watts, C, Moore, R, McCaghren, K, & Carr, M. (2003, November). Pitch discrimination and phonatory control in trained and untrained singers. ASHA Convention, Chicago, IL.

Watts, C, Barnes-Burroughs, K, & Moore, R. (2003, June). The relationship between pitch discrimination and pitch-matching abilities in talented and non-talented singers. Voice Foundation's 32nd Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. Philadelphia, PA.