Melanie Matthies

Senior Associate Dean; Speech Perception

  • Title Senior Associate Dean; Speech Perception
  • Phone 617-353-1983
  • Education BA, State University of New York at Buffalo
    MS, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
    PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

Courses taught

  • SAR HP151 Introduction to Health Professions
  • SAR SH 700 Research Methods

Scholarly Interests

My research concerns the role that hearing plays in adult speech motor control by using a variety of listener groups, such as cochlear implant recipients, hearing aid users, persons who are pre-lingually deafened, elderly subjects, and normal-hearing young adults. I also study the motor control of speech with respect to its variability, efficiency, and communicative effectiveness to test a theoretical framework that provides a synthesis of biomechanical constraints with economy of effort and perceptual strategies. Other interests include the effects of Parkinson’s disease on speech production/intelligibility and treatment efficacy.

Selected Research Support

  • “Effects on Hearing Status on Adult Speech Production” Subcontract PI for Type: R01DC03007 Joseph Perkell, PhD (PI) Period: December 1, 2006 – November 30, 2010, Agency: NIH
  • “Constraints and Strategies in Speech Production” Subcontract PI for Type: R01DC01925 Joseph Perkell, PhD (PI) Period: December 1, 2003 – November 30, 2010 Agency: NIH

Selected publications

  • Matthies, M.L., Guenther, F.H., Denny, M., Perkell, J.S., Burton, E., Vick, J., Lane, H., Tiede, M., and Zandipour, M. (2008). Perception and production of /r/ allophones improve with hearing from a cochlear implant. For Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124, 3191-3202.
  • Lane, H., Matthies, M.L., Guenther, F.H., Denny, M., Perkell, J.S., Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., Vick, J., and Zandipour, M. (2007). Effects of short- and long-term changes in auditory feedback on vowel and sibilant contrasts. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 50, 913-217
  • Lane, H., Denny, M., Guenther, F., Hanson, H., Marrone, N., Matthies, M., Perkell, J. Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., Vick, J., and Zandipour, M. (2007). On the structure of phoneme categories in listeners with cochlear implants. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 50, 2-14. Award for best paper in JSLHR-Hearing section 2007.
  • Ménard, L., Polak, M., Denny, M., Burton, E., Lane, H., Matthies, M., Marrone, N., Perkell, J., Tiede, M., and Vick, J. (2007). Interactions of speaking condition and auditory feedback on vowel production in postlingually deaf adults with cochlear implants. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121, 3790-3801
  • Perkell, J., Denny, M., Lane, H., Guenther, F., Matthies, M., Tiede, M., Vick, J., Zandipour, M., and Burton, E. (2007). Effects of masking noise on vowel and sibilant contrasts in normal-hearing speakers and postlingually deafened cochlear implant users. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121, 505-518.
  • Perkell, J., Lane, H., Denny, M., Matthies, M., Tiede, M., Zandipour, M., Vick, J., and Burton, E. (2007). Time course of speech changes in response to unanticipated short-term changes in hearing state. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121, 2296-2311.
  • Perkell, J.S., Guenther, J.H., Lane, H., Matthies, M.L., Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., Vick, J., and Zandipour, M. (2006). Production and perception of phoneme contrasts covary across speakers in Speech Production: Models, Phonetic Processes, and Techniques eds. J. Harrington and M. Tabain Psychology Press 69-84, (2006).
  • Lane, H., Denny, M., Guenther, F.H., Matthies, M.L., Menard, L., Perkell, J.S., Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., Vick, J., & Zandipour, M. (2005). Effects of bite blocks and hearing status on vowel production. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 118 1636-1646.
  • Perkell, J.S., Guenther, F.H., Lane, H., Matthies, M.L., Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., and Zandipour, M. (2004). The distinctness of speakers’ productions of vowel contrasts is related to their discrimination of the contrasts. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 116, 2338-2344.
  • Perkell, J.S., Matthies, M.L., Tiede, M., Lane, H., Zandipour, M., Marrone, N., Stockmann, E., and Guenther, F. (2004). The distinctness of speakers’ /s/ and /sh/ contrast is related to their auditory discrimination and use of an articulatory saturation effect. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 47, 1259-1269.
  • Perkell, J.S., Matthies, M.L., Guenther, F.H., Tiede, M., Zandipour, M., Stockmann, E. and Marrone, N. (2003). Sensory goals for speech movements: Cross-subject relations among production, perception and the use of an articulatory saturation effect, Proceedings of the 6th International Seminar on Speech Production, 219-224.

Selected published abstracts and conference papers

  • Perkell, J.S., Matthies, M.L., Ghosh, S.S., Hanson, A., Guenther, F.H.,, Lane, H., Ménard, L., and Tiede, M. (2008). Auditory and somatosensory goals for sibilants. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 123, 3pSCa1, page 3459.
  • Perkell, J.S., Ghosh, S.S., Guenther, F.H., Lane, H., Matthies, M.L., Ménard, L., and Tiede, M. (2008). Mechanisms of vowel production: Auditory goals and speaker acuity. International Seminar on Speech Production (12/08 Strasbourg).
  • Tiede, M., Shattuck-Hufnagel, S., Johnson, B., Ghosh, S., Matthies, M., Zandipour, M., & Perkell, J. (2007) Gestural phasing in /kt/ sequences contrasting within and cross word contexts, Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Saarbrucken, Germany, Aug. 6-10, 521-524.
  • Hoover, E., Ellis, T., Matthies, M., and Tickle-Degnen, L. (2007) .An Evidence-Based Interdisciplinary Approach for Self-Management of Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. Presented at the ASHA Convention, Boston MA.
  • Matthies, M.L., Guenther, F., Denny, M., Perkell, J., Stockmann, E., Vick, J., Tiede, M., & Lane, H. (2005). Perception and Production of /r/ allophones improve with hearing from cochlear implants. Journal of the Acoustical Society 118, Minneapolis MN, October 17-21, Session 3aSC11.
  • Perkell, J.S., Denny, M., Lane, H., Matthies, M.L., Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., and Zandipour, M. (2005). Effects of masking noise on vowel and sibilant contrasts in normal-hearing speakers and postlingually deafened cochlear implant users. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 118, 3aSC9, page 1963.
  • Ménard, L., Denny, M., Lane, H., Matthies, M.L., Perkell, J.S., Stockmann, E., Vick, J., Zandipour, M., Balkany, T., Polack, M., and Tiede, M.K. (2005). Effects of speaking condition and hearing status on vowel production in postlingually deaf adults with cochlear implants. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 118, 3aSC10, page 1964.
  • Perkell, J., Matthies, M., Guenther, F., Lane, H., Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., & Zandipour, M. (2004). Relationship between perceptual ability and the effects of perturbations on produced vowel contrasts, Conference on Motor Speech, Albuquerque, NM.
  • Perkell, J., Guenther, F., Lane, H., Matthies, M., Stockmann, E., Tiede, M., & Zandipour, M. (2003). Cross-subject relations between measures of vowel production and perception, Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Phonetics Sciences, Barcelona, 439-442.
  • Tiede, M., Perkell, J., Zandipour, M., Matthies, M. & Stockmann, E. (2003). A new approach to pressure-sensitive palatography using a capacitive sensing device, Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Phonetics Sciences, Barcelona, 3149-3152.
  • Tiede, M., Perkell, J., Zandipour, M., Matthies, M., & Stockmann, E. (2003) A /t/ or not a /t/: apical tongue gestures in the ‘perfect memory’ sequence, 6th International Seminar on Speech Production, Sydney, Australia.
  • Vick, J.C., Perkell, J.S., Hanson, H., Lane, H., Matthies, M., Marrone, N., and Guenther, F. (2003). Changes in the categorical perception of speech sounds following experience with a cochlear implant. 2003 Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses, Pacific Grove, CA.

Selected Professional Service and Memberships

  • 2002- 2005 Section Editor and Editorial Board, Ear and Hearing, Cochlear Implants
  • 2003-2008 Reviewer, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
  • 2008- present Associate Editor-Speech, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
  • Member, American Auditory Society
  • Member, American Statistical Association
  • Member, Acoustical Society of America
  • Member, American, Speech, Language, and Hearing Association (Certification of Clinical Competence in Audiology)
  • Member, Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology
  • Member, Hearing Loss Association

Honors and Awards

  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Phi Kappa Phi
  • Sigma Xi
  • Alpha Lambda Delta

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