Vocal Control and Vocal Well-Being Lab (VoCoWell Lab)

The WG is part of the department's clinical and research focuses on stress, trauma sequelae, and dissociative disorders.

The VoCoWell Lab focuses on how individuals differ in their vocal control and vocal behavior as a function of stressor exposure and personality and the resulting implications for risk for voice disorders. The research will help to determine what constitutes vocal resilience and how to improve vocal well-being. Research methods encompass basic and clinical voice science and psychophysiological and neuroimaging methods. In addition to studying vocal control in vocally healthy individuals, the VoCoWell Lab is interested in patients with functional dysphonia and aphonia, primary muscle tension dysphonia, and occupational voice users such as teachers and student teachers. The research program aims to contribute to an evidence-based biopsychosocial model of risk for voice disorders that informs innovative screening, prevention, and treatment approaches.

Studies

Neurobiological and psychobiological signatures of vocal effort in early career teachers
Emotion regulation in functional dysphonia and aphonia
Classifying neck surface EMG signals for the early detection of vocal fatigue in student teachers
Classification of voice and speech signals for the detection of psychiatric disorders

Funding

National Institutes on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Team

Director: Dr. Maria Dietrich
Postdoc: Dr. Mark Berardi
PhD Student: Juliane von der Heyde, MSc
Research assistants:
- Jeannine Bussjäger, MSc
- Simon Draber, MSc
- Hannah Moser, MSc
- Benjamin Rehring, MSc

Open positions

Please send us a mail if you want to join our team:

Collaborations

AG Translationale Bildgebung in der Psychiatrie, UKB
- Prof. Dr. Axel Krug
Abteilung für Phoniatrie und Pädaudiologie, Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, UKB
- Prof. Dr. Götz Schade
Vision Guided and Intelligent Robotics Lab (ViGIR Lab), Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Missouri
- Guilherme DeSouza, Associate Professor
- Yixiang Gao, doctoral student