College of Nursing and Health Sciences

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Speech Fluency Lab

Research

Research in the Speech Fluency laboratory focuses on factors that contribute to the persistence of developmental stuttering. Developmental stuttering is a multifaceted, complex speech-motor disorder that can have a severe, negative impact on a person’s life. Research in the Speech Fluency laboratory is assessing how emotional reactivity and regulatory processes affect speech-motor control in adults who stutter. Our current project is assessing how social stress influences speech movements in high- and low- socially anxious people who stutter.

Inside the lab

Speech motor control is assessed using the motion capture technology Optitrack (NaturalPoint, Inc.). This is a motion capture system that allows us to capture lip and jaw movement. The lab is also equipped with Northern Digital’s Wav system (NDI, Inc.). This is an electromagnetic tracking system that enables us to capture tongue movement.

Emotional reactivity and regulation from social stress is measured using Biopac’s MP160 (Biopac, Inc.). This is a data acquisition system that enables us to track heart rate variability and skin conductance levels, indices of emotional processing.

The Speech Fluency Lab has teamed up with Gareth Walkom, founder of withVR. Gareth has created a virtual speaking situation specific to the needs of our current project. The lab is equipped with an HR Omnicept (HP.com) headset for eliciting the virtual reality environment.

Principal Investigator

Kim Bauerly, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Dr. Bauerly graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a MSc. clinical degree and the University of Toronto with a Ph.D. in Speech and Language Pathology. Her personal journey as a person who stutters has led her to pursue research in stuttering. She is an active member of the International Fluency Association, American Speech-Language and Hearing Association’s SIG 4, and the National Stuttering Association. Learn more >>

Our Team

Graduate Students

Claudia Abbiati

Claudia Abbiati is an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist and PhD candidate in the Interprofessional Health Sciences program. She conducts interprofessional motor speech research under the joint advisement of Dr. Bauerly in the Speech Fluency Lab and Dr. Velleman in the Developmental Motor Speech Lab. She is currently investigating the relations among prosody, motor speech control, and hand movements in neurodivergent individuals.

Lizzie Quinn

Lizzie is currently a graduate student in the CSD Master's program at UVM and is serving as a GRA in the Speech Fluency Lab. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut. Her interests are working with young children, spending time with friends, and taking care of her pets!

Undergraduate Students

Hannah Duguid

Hannah is a senior undergraduate student in the Neuroscience department. She is also minoring in biology. She is serving as an undergraduate research assistant in the Speech Fluency Lab. Hannah works as a TA for Speech and Hearing Science: CSD101, and she is involved with volunteering at the local hospital. Her interests include healthcare, skiing, reading, and training for a future marathon. Hannah’s goals for the future include going to graduate school to either become a PA or an NP in women’s healthcare.

Kat Subramanian

Kat is an undergraduate Communication Sciences & Disorders student with both French and Special Education Minors. She is serving as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Speech Fluency Lab. She is interested in linguistic diversity, linguistic development, stuttering, and anxiety.

Lab Highlights

News

September 2022 - Lizzie Quinn was awarded a Graduate Research Assistant with the Speech Fluency Lab for the 2022-2023 year. Welcome Lizzie!

August 2022 - Claudia Abbiati and Kim Bauerly presented their research at the Speech Motor Conference 2022 in Groningen, Netherlands Kim Bauerly and Caludia Abbiati

June 2022 - Dr. Bauerly received a National Institute of Health (NIH) National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Exploratory grant (R21)

Funding

The Speech Fluency Lab receives funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s ASHFoundation, and the National Stuttering Association.

CONTACT

Kim Bauerly

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Kim.Bauerly@med.uvm.edu