My research involves studying the tongue and vocal tract during speech, swallowing and breathing. The tongue is critical to all three, but not well understood due to its position deep within the oral cavity. Our lab, the Vocal Tract Visualization Laboratory, measures positions and motions of the oral structures using several imaging techniques, particularly ultrasound and MRI. We then compare them to the acoustic output of the vocal tract tube. Our goal is to understand how the tongue is controlled in complex speech behaviors that we do not consciously think about. 

I am a member of the Experimental Therapeutics Program of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center Program in Oncology. Experimental Therapeutics researchers collaborate with both basic and clinical research investigators, focusing on the rapid transfer of knowledge from the laboratory to the clinic. My research focuses heavily on studying the effects of tongue cancer surgery (glossectomy) on tongue motion patterns and the resulting speech acoustics and perception. We are interested in the compensatory strategies that arise after surgical removal of part of the tongue. We consider the effects of subject-based and surgery-based factors on the adapted tongue movements and speech. We have created databases of tongue anatomy, motion, and speech acoustics. We have also developed 3D and 4D tongue muscle atlases of healthy subjects for use in studying patients with tongue disorders and speech compensations. 

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