FSU Motor Speech Lab

Lab news!

So many great things happened to our lab in November! Enak and Austin beautifully delivered their thesis prospectus and doctoral prelim meetings, respectively. Congratulations!

The inside scoop!

Dr. Kim and Austin are presenting about the effects of face masks on speech acoustics and intelligibility at the upcoming ASHA 2021 (Session No. 4737V). As you may experience every day, face masks negatively affect speech intelligibility, which the results indicated. However, mask wearers can modify speech behaviors to overcome the barrier! Details will be provided in the presentation including the speech sounds that are particularly vulnerable to face masks effects. We are very grateful for Brianna’s help with acoustic data analyses!

Get to know us!
Lab members: Lauren Weaver

Lauren Weaver is a senior at Florida State University studying Communication Science and Disorders. Currently, she is working on her undergraduate thesis examining the relationships between tongue kinematics and acoustic output in individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. Upon graduation, she plans to attend graduate school on her way to becoming a speech language pathologist.

Get to know us!
Lab members: Brianna Russo

Brianna Russo is a first-year graduate student in FSU’s School of Communication Science and Disorders. Originally from Long Island, NY, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University Maryland in 2021. Brianna recently assisted on the lab project investigating the effects of face masks on speech acoustics and intelligibility.

Get to know us!
Lab members: Enak Alfonso
Enak is a second-year M.S. student in FSU’s School of Communication Science and Disorders. His research investigates articulatory kinematic deficits in speakers with Parkinson’s Disease. Under the guidance of Dr. Yunjung Kim, Enak’s thesis specifically aims to determine whether a single sensor can be used to determine dysarthria of individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. Enak earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2020 in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Florida State University. In his spare time, Enak enjoys playing volleyball, eating delicious foods, and having a good time with friends and family.

Stay tuned for our next post about our remaining lab members!

Get to Know Us!
Lab Member: Austin Thompson

Austin is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in FSU’s School of Communication Science and Disorders. His research investigates articulatory deficits in speakers with motor speech disorders, such as dysarthria. Under the mentorship of Dr. Yunjung Kim, Austin’s research aims to link acoustic measures and their underlying articulatory gestures to inform the clinical interpretation of these measures for individuals with dysarthria. Austin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2016 and a Master of Arts degree in 2018 in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Louisiana State University. In his spare time, Austin enjoys spending time with his four-legged children, running, and watching scary movies.

Get to know us!
Lab Director: Dr. Yunjung Kim

Yunjung Kim joined Florida State University in 2020 as an associate professor in the School of Communication Science and Disorders (SCSD), College of Communication and Information (CCI). She received her B. A. in Korean Education and M.A. in Korean Linguistics from Korea University, and Ph.D. in Communicative Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her primary research interests lie in the transformation from a talker’s articulatory behavior (e.g., tongue movement during speech) to listeners’ reaction (e.g., speech intelligibility ratings). She is also interested in the role that native languages play in manifestation of motor speech disorders.

About Us!!

A new pub! Do you want to know how L2 speakers of English depart from /l/ of their own language and approximate /l/ of native speakers of English? Here are the acoustic findings.

Acoustic characteristics of Korean-English bilingual speakers’ /l/ and the relationship to their foreign accent ratings. The current study examined acoustic characteristics of English /l/ produced by Korean speakers who speak English as their second language (KE). Compar…

We are presenting two studies at ASHA 2021 (November 18-20): (1) Effects of face masks on speech acoustics and intelligibility, and (2) Speech language pathologists’ approximations of speech intelligibility in dysarthria. Stay tuned!

Austin was recently awarded an NIH/NIDCD F31 predoctoral fellowship to study “A multidimensional study on articulation deficits in Parkinson’s disease “. Congratulations! Read his story at

SCSD Graduate Student Awarded F31 Predoctoral Fellowship - News & Events School of Communication Science and Disorders (SCSD) graduate student Austin Thompson has been awarded an F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. This award was created in order to enable promising students the opportunity to grow as research scientists through mentored re...