Lab Happenings

Discoveries are happening everyday in the Spoken Language Processing Lab...we are currently recruiting adult research volunteers to help us examine the affect of narrator accent on story comprehension in noise. We also have plenty of toddler studies going on and would greatly appreciate any volunteers between the ages of 30 and 42 months. We have new studies starting every day, so stay posted to learn what we find out this semester!

Welcome to the SLP lab

The Spoken Language Processing (SLP) Laboratory is directed by Dr. Brittan Barker and housed in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Louisiana State University. Our multilayer research program focuses on spoken language processing across the lifespan. The ultimate, long-term goal of our research is to describe and understand how people learn language through listening, thus enabling us to establish evidence-based listening programs for people with hearing loss. We work toward this end point by examining spoken language processing within people of all ages—from infancy to adulthood.

My teaching philosophy, whether I am teaching in the classroom or mentoring in the laboratory, is always the same. I am a firm believer in the power of a heterarchy. I believe that all people I come in contact with have the ability to teach me something, just as I have the ability to teach them something. Thus the opportunity for teaching (and learning) is always equally distributed among all participants. This is why students are so important to the SLP lab.

Members of the SLP lab learn the importance of building a strong intellectual community; engaging in critical, analytical thinking; and learning about the field of spoken language processing in people of all ages with all levels of hearing. The students in my lab are actively involved in all forms of the research process—from hands-on experimental design and execution to thoughtful literature reviews. Regardless of where you are in your educational career, if you would like to make a contribution to the field of spoken language processing I would love to hear from you!

~ Dr. Brittan Barker 

SLP Lab News

January 2012

Happy New Year from the SLP lab!!! We are excited about the beginning of the new year and new semester in the lab. We continue to have an amazing volunteer research staff this semester and we're excited to welcome a couple of new ladies as well: April Anderson and Rebecca Erwin join us during their first year in the MA program at LSU and Lindsey Mancuso joins us during her junior year in Communication Sciences and Disorders. We look forward to introducing you to each of them when you visit the lab.

December 2011

This month, we celebrated the graduation of SLP lab member and McNair Scholar, Cornetta Mosley. Cornetta's next step is to pursue a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science. We are very excited to learn where she will be pursuing her graduate degree because we know there are MANY great successes in her future!

September 2011

Happy beginning-of-the-school-year from the SLP lab!!! We are excited about the beginning of the new academic year in the lab. We have the largest volunteer research staff yet, we have tons of exciting studies going on, and we sent out our very first newsletter. This year we welcome four new ladies to the lab: Annie Schubert joins us from the University of Michiagan as a new MA student at LSU, Litany Boudreaux joins us in her final year of undergrad in Communication Sciences and Disorders, and Alyse Aldridge and Kelly Oser are joining our lab as sophmore, COMD majors. We look forward to introducing you when you visit the lab.

Finally, our toddler studies continue to be in full swing. If you know any 24- to 45-month-olds (with our without cochlear implants) who are willing to help us out please direct them our way and let them know compensation is provided. We also have an interesting study examining story comprehension in typical adult listeners, so if you're interested in helping us learn more please contact us.