Research

April 19, 2019 at 4:42 pm

Kunkel Presents Work on Tonal, Non-Tonal Sounds in English and Mandarin

Gwen Kunkel, HTC Communication Sciences and Disorders major and Spanish minor, presented her research on “Auditory Perception and Electrophysiological Responses to Chimeric Sounds.”

Gwen Kunkel, HTC Communication Sciences and Disorders major and Spanish minor, presented her research on “Auditory Perception and Electrophysiological Responses to Chimeric Sounds.”

Several Modern Languages students presented their research and projects at Ohio University’s Student Research and Creative Activity Expo on April 11.

Gwen Kunkel, an Honors Tutorial College Communication Sciences and Disorders major and Spanish minor, presented her research on “Auditory Perception and Electrophysiological Responses to Chimeric Sounds.”

Kunkel worked with tonal and non-tonal sounds in English and Mandarin, where she discovered that chimeric sounds produce a novel response in both Mandarin and English speakers.

“There was no statistical difference found between the two groups, which was a surprise,” Kunkel says. “Understanding how the brain processes the different parts of a sound … gives insight into how one comprehends the literal meaning of words as well as implied meaning through tone and prosody. The more that is learned about these topics, the easier it will be to create new and improved technology for patients with hearing loss and auditory processing disorders.”

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