Research Faculty & Staff
Bharath Chandrasekaran, PhD - Lab Director
Bharath Chandrasekaran is the director of the SoundBrain Lab. He completed his PhD in Integrative Neuroscience at Purdue University and is a Professor and Chair of the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University. He studies the neural representation of speech signals using multimodal neuroimaging methods.
Jacie R. McHaney, PhD - Research Assistant Professor
Jacie McHaney is a Research Assistant Professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders interested in how subtle peripheral auditory changes shape neural speech encoding, listening effort, and perceptual outcomes. She received her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh where she studied self-perceived listening difficulties in adults with normal hearing. Dr. McHaney uses a combination of EEG, pupillometry, and computational modeling to identify neural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie listening challenges to inform how intervention may mitigate or exacerbate them.
Kevin R. Sitek, PhD - Research Assistant Professor
Kevin Sitek is a Research Assistant Professor in the SoundBrain Lab. He received his PhD in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology from Harvard University, where he studied the anatomy and connectivity of the human subcortical auditory system at the MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research. In the SoundBrain Lab, Kevin is investigating subcortical representations of speech sounds and connectivity within the auditory system using MRI.
Kailyn McFarlane, PhD - Research Project Manager
Kailyn McFarlane is the SoundBrain Lab Research Project Manager. She received her PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University, where she studied speech perception in noise difficulties in listeners with normal hearing using electrophysiologic and behavioral methods. Kailyn continues to investigate auditory mechanisms contributing to speech perception in noise difficulties with the goal of advancing clinical practices to better serve this population.
Postdoctoral Scholars & PhD Students
Zhe-chen Guo, PhD - Postdoctoral Scholar
Zhe-chen Guo is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the SoundBrain Lab. He received his PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin, where he investigated how intelligibility-enhancing hyperarticulated speech affects listeners’ word segmentation under optimal and adverse listening conditions. Zhe-chen is interested in bringing perspectives from linguistics and his training in behavioral, acoustic, and computational methods to explore the neural representations of speech sounds. In the SoundBrain Lab, he is experimenting with different modeling approaches to reveal the neural encoding of speech content in frequency-following responses to Mandarin tones.
Shengyue Xiong, MS - PhD Student
Shengyue Xiong is a second-year PhD student in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University. She received her M.S. in Speech Sciences from University College London. Shengyue is interested in brain networks underlying human communication, especially in the mechanisms underlying speech perception in complex listening conditions and brain dynamics underlying talker identification, speech categorization, and voice learning. In the SoundBrain Lab, Shengyue hopes to conduct research using a combination of behavioral, neurophysiological, and computational approaches.
Jun Zhang, BS - PhD Student
Jun Zhang is a first-year PhD student in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University. He is a bilateral cochlear implant user from Suzhou, China. Jun’s research interests center on how cochlear implant users perceive and process continuous speech, with particular emphasis on nonverbal communicative cues such as emotional prosody and the neural mechanisms underlying speech perception. He is also interested in how auditory and visual cues jointly contribute to the interpretation of non-semantic information. In the SoundBrain Lab, Jun aims to extend existing work on neural responses to continuous speech to cochlear implant populations and to facilitate collaborative research with Dr. Monita Chatterjee’s Auditory Prostheses & Perception Lab.
Research Staff & Student Assistants
Gulnoor Grover
Gulnoor Kaur Grover is a Doctor of Audiology (AuD) student at Northwestern University. Her interests include cochlear implants, auditory rehabilitation, and central auditory physiology. She is particularly motivated by the intersection of clinical practice and research, with the goal of advancing patient outcomes through evidence-based approaches to hearing technology and rehabilitation.
Evgenia Evdokimenko
Evgenia Evdokimenko is a Doctor of Audiology (AuD) student at Northwestern University. Her interests include auditory processing, speech perception, and multilingualism. Her goal is to deepen her understanding of speech perception and auditory processing in order to best support her patients in the future.
Sabrina Lee
Sabrina is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University pursuing a double major in Neuroscience and Dance. She is intrigued by the potential of neurotechnologies to enhance complex learning tasks and address/prevent neurological disorders. Sabrina hopes to explore how innovative tools and interdisciplinary approaches can deepen our understanding of the brain and the interconnectedness of speech perception, language, and learning.
Travis Kim
Travis is an undergraduate at Northwestern studying Cognitive Science and Philosophy with a minor in Computer Science. He is interested in the relationship between humans and computers and AI on an emotional level, especially as AI gets better at replicating human characteristics. In the SoundBrain Lab, Travis hopes to deepen his understanding of the neural processes behind speech perception within natural and synthetic speech.
Jenna D'Souza
Vidyuth Sridhar
Vidyuth Sridhar is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University majoring in neuroscience and journalism. He is fascinated by language processing and speech impairment. In the SoundBrain Lab, Sridhar hopes to use neuroimaging methods to explore how factors like age, hearing loss, and semantic context influence perception.
Amp Kangsumrith
Amp is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University pursuing a Cognitive Science degree, with a psychology minor and a Human-Computer Interaction certificate. In the SoundBrain lab, Amp hopes to broaden her intellectual horizons and deepen her understanding of speech processing by experimenting with computational approaches and neuroimaging methods.
David Azinovic
David is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University studying Psychology and Global Health. He is interested in the role of temporal lobe in memory representation and psychopathology. His goal is to utilize neuroimaging and behavioral methods to better understand the neural pathways underlying auditory memory and sound-related symptoms such as hallucinations and affective dysregulation in psychological disorders.
Kathryn Crane
Kathryn is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University studying Human Communication Sciences with a minor in Art Theory and Practice. She is interested in auditory perception and how variations in the way people hear and process sound influence their perspectives, communication, and daily experiences. Her goal is to better understand how sound influences the ways people communicate and interact with the world.