RERC-HE Staff

DIRECTORS:

Matthew H. Bakke, Ph.D.
Arlene C. Neuman, Ph.D.

STAFF:

Scott Bally, Ph.D.
Dragana Barac-Cikoja, Ph.D.
Claire Bernstein, Ph.D.
Corine Bickley, Ph.D.
Arthur Boothroyd, Ph.D.
Snoopi Botten
Cynthia Conley, Ph.D.
Judy Harkins, Ph.D.
Linda Kozma-Spytek, M.A.
Harry Levitt, Ph.D.
Glenis Long, Ph.D.
Annette G. Mazevski, Au.D.
Chris Oden
Mark Ross, Ph.D.
Michael P. Steele, M.S.
Carrick Talmadge, Ph.D.
Paula E. Tucker, Ed.S.

Directors

Matthew H. Bakke, Ph.D.
Matthew Bakke directs the operations of the RERC in addition to leading the Computer Enabled Distance Aural Rehabilitation (CEDAR) component of the RERC. He holds a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from CUNY, and is currently a faculty member at Gallaudet in the Department of Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences. Dr. Bakke was most recently Director of Research for the Lexington Center for the Deaf and Executive Director of the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center in New York. He has directed the RERC-HE since 1999, having previously served as co-director since 1992.

Arlene C. Neuman, Ph.D.
Arlene Neuman is a Principal Investigator under the Hearing Aids component, and Co-Director of the RERC. Dr. Neuman holds a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the City University of New York, and is currently a research professor at NYU School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of Trends in Amplification. Dr. Neuman has been active in hearing research and hearing aid research for more than twenty years. Much of her research has focused on evaluating signal processing strategies for hearing aids and on developing techniques for quantifying hearing aid outcomes. She has been Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on grants from NIH and NIDRR.

Staff

Scott Bally, Ph.D.
Scott Bally will serve as an investigator under the Computer Enabled Distance Aural Rehabilitation (CEDAR) component of the RERC. He holds a Ph.D. in Gerontological Aural Rehabilitation from the Union Institute, and is currently a faculty member at Gallaudet University. Dr. Bally has presented on aural rehabilitation topics at numerous conventions and associations, and is the co-editor and contributing author of Communication Therapy: An Integrated Approach to Aural Rehabilitation for Hard of Hearing and Deaf Adults & Adolescents.

Dragana Barac-Cikoja, Ph.D.
Dragana Barac-Cikoja is a researcher with considerable experience in the area of speech and language processing by hard of hearing listeners, and she serves as an investigator under the Hearing Aids component of the RERC. She holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and is currently a Research Scientist at Gallaudet University. Dr. Barac-Cikoja served as a Principal Investigator on several government-funded projects.

Claire Marcus Bernstein, Ph.D.
Claire Marcus Bernstein serves as an investigator under the Hearing Technologies and the Computer Enabled Distance Aural Rehabilitation (CEDAR) components of the RERC. She holds a Ph.D. in Audiology from Columbia University, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at Gallaudet in the Department of Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences. Dr. Bernstein’s clinical, teaching, and research work has focused on rehabilitative audiology and older adults.

Corine Bickley, Ph.D.
Corine Bickley is a Gallaudet engineer working on the Advanced Tools for Assessment and Intervention component of the RERC. She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been Principal Investigator on grants from the European Community (TIDE ENAbler for computer-Based vocational tasks with Language and speech, from 1997-1999) and from NIH (Design of a hearing screening test using synthetic speech in 1998 and Fluency Enhancement Device from 2001-2002).

Arthur Boothroyd, Ph.D.
Arthur Boothroyd holds a Ph.D. in Audiology from the University of Manchester (UK). As a consultant on the RERC, he is developing multimedia software packages under the CEDAR and Environmental Factors components of the RERC. Dr. Boothroyd was a distinguished professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the City University of New York until 2000. He is currently self-employed as a consultant, researcher and teacher. He served for 10 years as a co-Principal Investigator on the RERC on Hearing Enhancement. www.arthurboothroyd.com

Snoopi Botten
Snoopi Botten is a consultant for the RERC, and is assisting in the evaluation of sentences for speech audiometry and self-training of speech. He has used an assistive device with synthetic speech output as his primary means of communication for over 15 years. Since 1996, he has been giving workshops to demonstrate assistive and augmentative devices with speech output and has taught special education classes at the University of Minnesota under Professor Steve Robinson. Snoopi currently serves as a Consumer Consultant for the Prentke-Romich Company, manufacturer of several AAC devices, and as an Evaluator for the DECtalk project.

Cynthia Compton, Ph.D.
Cynthia Compton is an investigator under the Hearing Technologies and CEDAR components of the RERC. Dr. Compton holds a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science from the City University of New York, and is currently a faculty member at Gallaudet University. Dr. Compton is co-founder and director of the Gallaudet University Assistive Devices Center, and has done considerable work in the area of needs assessment and selection of hearing assistance technology.

Judy Harkins, Ph.D.
Judith Harkins serves as an investigator under the Needs Assessment component of the RERC. She holds a Ph.D. in Administration and Supervision in Special Education from Gallaudet University, and is a professor of Communication Studies at Gallaudet. She has served as Co-Principal Investigator for the RERC on Telecommunications Access since 1995, and also has served as an investigator and staff member on the RERC on Hearing Enhancement since 1993.

Linda Kozma-Spytek
Linda Kozma-Spytek is assisting with the Auditory Self-Monitoring project under the Hearing Aids component of the RERC and will assist with the study of hearing aid interference measurements. She holds an M.A. in Communication Sciences from Washington University/Central Institute for the Deaf and is a doctoral candidate in Audiology at the City University of N Y. She has been a research audiologist/associate in the Technology Access Program at Gallaudet University since 1998, and is currently a co-investigator on two projects of the RERC on Telecommunications Access.

Harry Levitt, Ph.D.
Harry Levitt is an investigator under the Hearing Aids, Hearing Technologies, and CEDAR components of the RERC. Dr. Levitt holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, and is now Emeritus Distinguished Professor (ret.) at the City University of New York. He was also the former Director of the RERC prior to his retirement from the City University. He is currently President of Advanced Hearing Concepts, a consulting and research company in the area of HT. Dr. Levitt has carried out research and has published extensively in the areas of HT, communication aids for deafness, hearing aids, cellular telephones, computer assisted testing, digital signal processing, speech analysis, synthesis, recognition and perception, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and statistics He was the winner of the Johns Hopkins University First National Search for Applications of Personal Computing to Aid the Handicapped and has received the New York City Mayor’s Award for Contributions to Science and Technology. He has also been honored by the Acoustical Society of America, the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association and has received the Life Achievement Award from the American Auditory Society.

Glenis Long, Ph.D.
Glenis Long is an investigator under the Advanced Tools for Assessment and Intervention component of the RERC. Dr. Long holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Princeton University, and is currently a professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences in the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Long has been honored by the Acoustic Society of America for services to research in psychoacoustics and otoacoustic emissions. She has published papers on hearing ability of animals such as bats and chinchillas in addition to research on hearing in normal and hearing impaired human subjects.

Annette G. Mazevski, Au.D.
Annette G. Mazevski has been serving the RERC as a Research Audiologist for the "Evaluation of the Tracking Procedure" since 2006. She received her Au.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 and is currently working towards her Ph.D. at Gallaudet University. Her main interests are hearing aids, auditory processing, and listening effort in the adult population.

Chris Oden
Chris Oden is a computer specialist under the Hearing Aids, Hearing Technologies and CEDAR components of the RERC. He has over 20 years of experience in advanced computer programming including 6 years working with Dr Levitt on projects in hearing enhancement. His computer skills include database design and management, web design and development, hardware interfacing, data acquisition, process control, computer assisted human subject testing, computer based statistical analysis and digital signal processing of audio and video signals.

Mark Ross, Ph.D.
Mark Ross is a consultant with the RERC. He holds a Ph.D. in Audiology from Stanford University. Dr. Ross is a Professor Emeritus in Communication Sciences at the University of Connecticut. In the past, he has directed the Willie Ross School for the Deaf, and served as director of research and training at the League for the Hard of Hearing. In his consumer role, Dr. Ross was vice president of Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc. as well as vice-president of the International Federation of the Hard of Hearing (editing their journal for six years).

Michael P. Steele, M.S.
Michael Steele is a consultant with the RERC. Mr. Steele is currently a Senior Research Engineer at the Lexington Center/School for the Deaf in Queens, New York. He holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts. Mr. Steele has extensive experience in electrical engineering, digital signal processing, embedded systems design, and software development, and holds patents for methods to improve hearing aids and classroom amplification systems.

Carrick Talmadge, Ph.D.
Carrick Talmadge will develop software to acquire and analyze distortion product otoacoustic emissions, implement reflectance/admittance measures for DPOAE measurements, and provide cochlear and middle ear models for the RERC. Dr. Talmadge holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Purdue University, and is currently an associate research professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Mississippi, as well as a research scientist with the National Center for Physical Acoustics at the University. Dr. Talmadge will serve as a consultant to the work of the RERC.

Paula Tucker, Ed.S.
Paula Tucker is a research associate in Gallaudet University's Technology Access Program/ Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Telecommunications Access. She holds an Ed.S. in Deaf Education from Gallaudet University. Prior to coming to TAP in 2000, Paula worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Communication Neuroscience at House Ear Institute. She is an experienced educator and has taught deaf students at the junior high and high school level, both in the United States and in Israel. She has also taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in Gallaudet's Department of Education, as well as in the Department of Communication Studies. She is an RID certified sign language interpreter.