The SoundBrain Lab is seeking participants for a research study that aims to explore how our brains encode and differentiate speech sounds (such as “b” vs. “p”), and how the ability to do so interacts with the ease (or lack thereof) at which we can understand speech in different environments, like in background noise.
Watch this brief video of our research assistant professor, Dr. Jacie McHaney, explaining the premise of this study:
You may be eligible if:
- You are between 18-70 years old and a native English speaker.
- You have normal hearing or mild/moderate sensorineural hearing loss
- You have no history of ear surgery/disorders or neurological/neurodevelopmental disorders.
- You can travel to the Northwestern Evanston campus.
Participation may include the following:
- Measures of pupil dilation
- Measures of brain activity to sounds using electroencephalography (EEG)
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Participation may occur over 1-3 visits. All measures are non-invasive. The testing time may take up to 3 hours per visit. Participants will be compensated for their time and effort at an hourly rate of $20/hour.
If you are interested, please complete this brief eligibility survey.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at soundbrainlab@northwestern.edu. A study team member will get back to you shortly.
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Principal Investigator: Bharath Chandrasekaran, PhD
Study Title: Neural Snapshot of Speech Processing
IRB: STU00222157
The SoundBrain Lab is seeking participants for a research study investigating how our brains process speech sounds.
You may be eligible if:
- You are between 13-25 years old, have normal hearing (no hearing loss), and are a native speaker of either English or Mandarin Chinese.
- You can travel to the Northwestern Evanston campus.
Participation includes:
- A quick hearing test, a language background questionnaire, and a non-invasive measure of brain activity (EEG) while you listen to sounds. The EEG consists of having sensors placed behind each ear, on the forehead, and on the top center of the head. Please note that we will need to be able to part your hair/access your scalp on the top center of your head, and that some hairstyles may not be compatible with this requirement.
Participation requires one visit to our lab on the Evanston campus that will last for about 3 hours. Participants will be compensated at $15/hour.
If you are interested, please complete this brief eligibility survey.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at soundbrainlab@northwestern.edu. A study team member will get back to you shortly.
Study Title: Cortical Contributions to the Frequency-Following Response
Principal Investigator: Dr. Bharath Chandrasekaran
IRB#: STU00219265
The SoundBrain Lab is seeking participants for a research study investigating individual variability in auditory learning.
You may be eligible if:
- You are between 18-30 years old, have normal hearing (no hearing loss), and are a native speaker of English.
Participation includes:
- A quick hearing screening and a non-invasive measure of pupil dilation while performing a listening task.
Participation requires a single 1.5-hour visit to our lab on the Evanston campus. Participants will be compensated at $15/hour.
If you are interested, please email soundbrainlab@northwestern.edu with the subject line “PRD2 study interest”. A study team member will get back to you shortly.
Study Title: Neural Systems in Auditory and Speech Categorization
Principal Investigator: Dr. Bharath Chandrasekaran
IRB#: STU00219433