Terrin Tamati, PhD

This study investigates the effects of talker and linguistic factors on the perceptual processing of speech in adult cochlear implant users. Specifically, this project uses psycholinguistic assessments incorporating talker and linguistic variability to examine the perception of talker details, the perceptual encoding and representation of talker details, and adaptation to novel talkers in this listener population.

This study investigates speech recognition across a range of adverse and challenging conditions. The primary goal is to understand the differing processes underlying performance in diverse listening conditions in adult cochlear implant users. In particular, the contribution of perceptual and cognitive-linguistic skills to individual differences in speech perception across diverse listening conditions is investigated. A secondary goal is to develop novel assessments to evaluate real-world speech communication skills.

The aim of this study is to examine how auditory experience influences spoken language processing in adult cochlear implant users. In particular, the role of auditory experience in facilitating or impeding real-world adaptation to the novel signal delivered by a cochlear implant is investigated, in order to identify training targets to improve real-world listening and adaptation.

Title: Beyond Clinical Measures: Auditory-Social Experience and Robust Communication Skills in Adults Following Cochlear Implantation
Dates: 12/01/2021-12/01/2024
Agency: National Institutes on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health
Role: PI
Award Number: R21DC019382 

Title: More than words: Uncovering the effects of talkers' voices on real-life speech perception by cochlear implant users
Dates: 09/01/2017-8/31/2022
Agency: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
Role: PI
Award Number: Veni Early Career Research Award 275-89-035

Title: Investigating the Impact of Social Networks on Speech Recognition Outcomes and Quality of Life in Adults with Cochlear Implants – A Study Using an Online Testing Protocol
Dates: 01/01/2021-12/31/2021
Agency: American Hearing Research Foundation
Role: PI
Award Number: AHRF Regular Grant

Tamati, T.N., Pisoni, D.B., & Moberly, A.C. (in press). Speech and language outcomes in adults and children with cochlear implants. Annual Review of Linguistics.

Moberly, A.C., Lewis, J.H., Vasil, K.J., Ray, C., & Tamati, T.N. (in press). Bottom-up signal quality impacts the role of top-down cognitive-linguistic processing during speech recognition by adults with cochlear implants. Otology & Neurotology. 

Tamati, T.N., & Moberly, A.C. (in press). Talker adaptation and lexical difficulty impact word recognition in adults with cochlear implants. Audiology and Neurotology.

Arts, F., Başkent, D., & Tamati, T.N. (2021). Development and structure of the VariaNTS corpus: A spoken Dutch multi-talker and linguistic variability corpus for speech perception assessment. Speech Communication, 127, 64-72.

Tamati, T. N., Pisoni, D.B., & Moberly, A.C. (2021). The perception of regional dialects and foreign accents by cochlear implant users. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64, 683-690.

Tamati, T. N., Vasil, K.J., Kronenberger, W.G., Pisoni, D.B., Moberly, A.C., & Ray, C. (2021). Word and nonword reading efficiency in postlingually deafened adult cochlear implant users. Otology & Neurotology, 42, e272-e278. 

Tamati, T.N., Sijp, L., & Başkent, D. (2020). Talker variability in word recognition under cochlear implant simulation: Does talker gender matter? Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147, EL370-EL376.

Rodman, C. Moberly, A.C., Janse, E., Başkent, D., & Tamati, T.N. (2020). The impact of speaking style on speech recognition in quiet and multi-talker babble in adult cochlear implant users. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147, 101-107.

Tamati, T. N., Ray, C., Vasil, K. J., Pisoni, D. B., & Moberly, A. C. (2020). High- and low-performing adult cochlear implant users on high-variability sentence recognition: differences in auditory spectral resolution and neurocognitive functioning. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 31, 324-335.

Guest Researcher, 2018 – current
Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

AHRF Research Grant, American Hearing Research Foundation, 2021

Presidential Postdoctoral Scholars Program Award, The Ohio State University, 2019-2021

VENI Early Career Award, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), 2017-2020

Early Career Acoustician Retreat Attendee (selected) and Travel Award, Acoustical Society of America, San Diego, CA, 2019

Travel Award, Aging and Speech Communication Conference, Tampa, FL, 2019

Grant-in-Aid of Doctoral Research, Indiana University, 2013

Householder Fund Grant-in-Aid, Department of Linguistics, Indiana University, 2013

T32 Predoctoral Fellow (T32DC00012), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 2008-2014

Department of Linguistics Graduate Student Travel Award, Indiana University, 2011

Colleges of the Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Award, The Ohio State University, 2007-2008

University Scholarship, The Ohio State University, 2003-2007

The Arts and Sciences Certificate for Excellence in Scholarship, The Ohio State University, 2007-2008

Honoree: President’s Salute to Undergraduate Academic Achievement, The Ohio State University, 2007

Undergraduate Research Award in the Humanities, The Ohio State University, 2007

Greek-American Academic Scholarship, The American College of Thessaloniki, 2005

Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) Grant, The Ohio State University, 2005 

Katherine L. Hall Prize, The Ohio State University, 2005