UMass Language, Intersensory Perception, and Speech Lab

Have a bored college student at home for the summer who would be interested in participating in research for pay? We measure brain waves while a speech perception task is performed.

We need your help!

We are open for research and need your help in studying how processing speech changes across the adult life span! Please contact us to be a paid volunteer!

We are back open and in desperate need of participants! Please consider helping us and/or spreading the word!

45- to 60-Year-old Volunteers Needed for Study on How Seeing a Speaker Helps with Understanding Speech

Adults 45 years and older (

We are open for research! Because of setbacks from the pandemic we need your help more than ever!
Covid Info:
The UMass community has a vaccination rate of approx. 98% and masks are mandatory in all buildings on campus.
Our personnel is fully vaccinated and wears masks at all times in our lab and building. Lab personnel undergoes regular voluntary asymptomatic COVID testing. Only one member of our team is currently allowed in our testing room. Our buildings and lab's ventilation has also been checked.
We only test one person at any given time, with a 12 hr gap between participants.
We only test participants who are fully vaccinated and also can wear masks at all time during their visit. Health screenings are done before and at arrival. Screening for eligibility are done over the phone before the appointment.
We are currently recruiting participants between 45 and 80 years of age. Please email us if you would like to volunteer and stay informed about our research opportunities. We appreciate your help to study what factors contribute to healthy aging!

Curious about what happens to hearing and the ability to recognize speech at midlife? Read our new review article:

Hearing and Speech Processing in Midlife Middle-aged adults often report a decline in their ability to understand speech in adverse listening situations. However, there has been relatively li…

Congratulations to our graduating senior, Rachel Combs! She will attend the CUNY Graduate Center Audiology program starting in the Fall.

Congratulations to our graduating senior, Renée Clark! We are happy to hear that she chose UMass for her graduate studies. Renée will be a graduate student in the Speech-Language Pathology program within the Communication Disorders Department here at UMass.

Congratulations to our graduating senior, Emily Gardner! She will continue her career as a graduate student in the Speech-Language Pathology program at Worcester State University!

Interested in contributing to COVID-19 efforts? Email Karen Helfer [email protected] to learn about a campaign to decrease isolation among nursing home residents.

Please stay safe. Older adults or people with severe chronic medical conditions should especially prepare in advance for the possibility of a COVID-19 outbreak in their community. Watch this video from the CDC's Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases, Dr. Jay C. Butler, to learn more about COVID-19 and older people.

COVID-19: What Older Adults Need to Know Jay Butler, Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases at CDC, describes preventative measures to help protect older adults from COVID-19. Comments on this vide...

In the LIPS lab we study how seeing a speaker can help listeners with understanding speech - especially older listeners.
[To support this research, please contact us by calling us at (909) 547-5221 or email us at [email protected]]

This is in line with recent recommendations issued by the National Institute on Aging:
Hearing loss is a common problem caused by noise, aging, disease, and heredity. Approximately one in three people between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those over 75 have difficulty hearing.

Here are some tips from the National Institute of Health that you can use when talking with someone who has a hearing problem:
- In a group, include people with hearing loss in the conversation.
- Find a quiet place to talk to help reduce background noise, especially in restaurants and at social gatherings.
- Stand in good lighting and use facial expressions or gestures to give clues.
- Face the person and speak clearly. Maintain eye contact.
- Speak a little more loudly than normal, but don’t shout.
- Try to speak slowly, but naturally.
- Do not hide your mouth, eat, or chew gum while speaking.
For more tips like this and to learn more about hearing loss in older adults, visit the NIA website:

Hearing Loss: A Common Problem for Older Adults Learn about the types of hearing loss in older adults, devices that can help them hear better, and tips to help them cope with hearing loss.