Communication Science and Disorders senior Samantha Bikulcius will present her Honors in the Major research at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association conference in Seattle, Washington, on December 7, 2024.
Her study, “The Relationship Between Listener Cognition and Listening Effort During Dysarthric Speech Perception,” examines the relationship between cognitive factors and the listening effort required to comprehend intelligible, dysarthric speech. Dysarthria, a motor speech disorder, affects the muscles used for speaking, making communication challenging.
“This study found that listeners expended less listening effort when listening to speech samples from a control speaker as opposed to a speaker with dysarthria who was still intelligible,” Bikulcius explained. “More research in this area is needed because individual cognitive factors might be responsible for different dimensions of listening effort.”
Her thesis advisor was Dr. Kaitlin Lansford, and she worked under Dr. Micah Hirsch, as her project played a role in their doctoral dissertation. “Their help and guidance with this project is what made it possible and their passion for the field really speaks to the talent in the School of Communication Science and Disorders,” Bikulcius noted.
Her interest in research was sparked during her sophomore year through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). “My UROP leaders spoke so highly of research and as I completed my project, I could see why,” said Bikulcius. “The ability to keep learning and advancing a field of study that you are passionate about is amazing.”
Bikulcius hopes to attend graduate school and continue her research over the next couple of years. “Specifically, I am hoping to tie my interest in motor speech in with another passion of mine: theater and performing arts,” she said.
To her fellow students, Bikulcius offers this advice: “Take every opportunity presented to you! College is the time to explore what you want to do with your life and to do that you need to explore all kinds of options. You never know where a random opportunity will take you or whether it will be life changing, so just say yes!”