Research Assistants
Jeffrey J. DiGiovanni
Dr. DiGiovanni's 2009-2010 Research Assistants:
Naveen Nagaraj, Jessica Prewitt, Allison Mester & Marisol Gliatas
Current Research Assistants
(Listed alphabetically by last name)
Naveen Nagaraj, 2nd year Ph.D. student
Naveen is a 2nd year Ph.D. student from Coorg, India. He received his B.S. and M.A from the All India Institute for Speech and Hearing in 2001. After graduating he worked for 5 years in India and 3 more years in Australia before coming to Ohio University. In Dr. DiGiovanni's lab, Naveen has worked on The effect of transient suppression algorithms on speech intelligibility and user ratings among hearing aid users. He is currently working on a research study entitled Relative contribution of adaptation of temporal integration to forward masking.
Sara McCartney, 2nd year Au.D. student
Sara is a 2nd year Au.D. student and is originally from Dellroy, Ohio. She received her B.A. in Psychology at Kent State University in 2009. In Dr. DiGiovanni's lab, Sara has assisted in many studies by running participants, editing documents, creating tables and figures, and editing programs. She also maintained the lab website and researched articles as needed.
Past Research Assistants
(Listed in reverse chronological order)
Allison Mester, 4th year Au.D. student
Allison is currently a 4th year Au.D. student from Bolivar, Ohio. She received a B. S. in Hearing Speech and Language Sciences with a minor in Linguistics from Ohio University in 2008. In Dr. DiGiovanni's lab, Allison has worked on the completion and continuing efforts of the Hearing Aid Handbook II, which was published in February of 2010. She also worked on the data collection and completion of the research study entitled Phonemically targeted speech processing used in conjunction with combination compression and linear gain processing. She worked on making recordings using Knowles Electronic Manikin for Acoustic Research (KEMAR), completing the manuscript for the research study Spectral reshaping of /s/ and /t/ to enhance speech intelligibility. Her 3rd year research project, entitled "Working Memory Measurements as Determinants of Listening Effort in Various Background Environments: A Pilot Study" incorporated working memory into evaluating speech intelligibility, reaction time, and listening effort. She is currently in her 4th year externship at River Cities ENT in Huntington, West Virginia.
Jessica (Falgner) Prewitt, Au.D.
Jessica earned her Au.D. degree in June 2011 and hails from Blanchester, Ohio. She received a B. S. in Communication Disorders with a minor in Psychology from Bowling Green State University in 2007. In Dr. DiGiovanni's lab, Jessica was in charge of the original lab website in 2007, and making revisions to the Hearing Aid Handbook II. She has also worked on the third spectral enhancement study "Hi- and Low- Frequency Decrement Contribution to Spectral Enhancement." Most recently, she completed her 3rd year research study "The Relative Contribution to Speech intelligibility from consonants and vowels using synthesised and naturally spoken sentences" which won 1st place at the 2010 Ohio University Research Consortium.
Marisol (Szymanski) Gliatas, 3rd year Au.D student
Marisol is currently a 3rd year Au.D. student from Beavercreek, Ohio. She received a B.S. in Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences, with a minor in Linguistics, as well as certificates in both East Asian Studies and Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Ohio University in 2009. In Dr. DiGiovanni's lab, Marisol's first major project was designing the new lab website. She has also worked on various other projects, such as reading and editing literature for the lab, running as a subject in serveral studies, recruiting subjects, and assisting Jessica Prewitt with her 3rd year research project.
Chessy Seebohm-Umbel, Au.D.
Chessy earned her Au.D in June 2010 and is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. She received a B. S. in Hearing Speech and Language Sciences with a minor in Psychology from Ohio University in 2006. In Dr. DiGiovanni's lab, Chessy has collaborated on several studies; running subject and collecting data. She has also finished numerous projects for Dr. DiGiovanni, such as editing and reviewing literature for the lab. Most recently, she completed her 3rd year project involving a spectral enhancement algorithm named CoLiGa.
Erin Davlin, Au.D.
Erin earned her Au.D. in June 2009 and is originally from Springfield, Illinois. She received a B. S. in Communication Disorders from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. Erin's major project in Dr. DiGiovanni's lab was putting together information for the Hearing Aid Handbook 2008-2009 . Erin also worked on The effect of transient suppression algorithms on speech intelligibility and user ratings among hearing aid users.
Ashley Stover-Engle, Au.D.
Ashley received her Au.D. in June 2008 and is originally from Ripley, West Virginia. She is currently working in West Virginia. She received her undergraduate degree from Marshall University in 2004. In the lab Ashley worked on several projects, most notably The phonetically specific speech processing for the improvement of speech intelligibility. It is on this topic that she won the Student Research and Creative Activities Award for her 3rd year project in 2007.
Padmaja Nair, Au.D.
Padmaja received her Au.D. in June 2007. She is currently working as an audiologist in New York City, New York. In the lab Padmaja worked on several projects including a case study on lupus, the beniefit of spectral enhancement, and measuring response growth using low-frequency suppressor. You can see abstracts of her work in the published article section of the website.