Professor Howard C. Nusbaum is currently the chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, where he has served since 1997. Professor Nusbaum received a B.A. from Brandeis University and then earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from SUNY University at Buffalo. He joined the Department of Psychology in 1986.

During his career Professor Nusbaum has served as an editor for the International Journal of Speech and Technology and as a regular reviewer for Developmental Psychology as well as participated in a number of projects involving grant work. Titles of the projects include: Computational Modeling of Speech Perception, Measuring the Quality of Speech Produced by DECtalk, and Acquisition of Multi-Media Storage and Processing for Research in Situated Communication.

Professor Nusbaum's research focuses on the areas of Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics with particular emphasis on the role of learning and attention in language processing. Much of his research is in speech perception and production but recent research has also examined conceptual development and cortical mechanisms of language processing. In addition to research and teaching in these areas Professor Nusbaum has been involved in creating computational models of speech perception and human factors research on speech technology. Some articles he has published include Learning to Hear Speech as Spoken Language, Understanding Speech Perception From the Perspective of Cognitive Psychology and Evaluating the Quality of Synthetic Speech.

Contact Information:
Department of Psychology
Green 102
5848 S. University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Fax: 773-702-0886
Email: h-nusbaum@uchicago.edu

Research Interests
My research is directed at investigating the sensory, perceptual, cognitive, and psycholinguistic factors that mediate the recognition and comprehension of spoken language. We accurately recognize spoken words across mechanisms that make use of sensory information about the speech signal, knowledge about its pattern structure, and linguistic and contextual knowledge. Research in my laboratory investigates the mechanisms of speech perception; how different types of information interact during the processing of spoken language. Specifically, we are examining issues regarding perceptual learning of speech, perceptual organization of speech, attentional limitations in perceptions of speech, the role of structure of the lexicon and knowledge of the semantic structure of language in speech perception.

Recent Publications
Articles
Francis, A. L., & Nusbaum, H. C. (1999). The effect of lexical complexity on segmental intelligibility. International Journal of Speech Technology, 3, 15-25.

Francis, A. L., Baldwin, K., & Nusbaum, H. C. (in press). Learning to listen: The effects of trainingon attention to acoustic cues. Perception & Psychophysics.

Nusbaum, H. C. (in press). Review of Perceiving talking faces: From speech perception to a behavioral principle. Philosophical Psychology.

Book Chapters
Nusbaum, H. C., & Magnuson, J. S. (1997). Talker normalization: Phonetic constancy as a cognitive process. In K.A. Johnson & J.W. Mullennix (Eds.), Talker variability in speech processing. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Nusbaum, H. C., Francis, A. L., Luks, T. L. (1998). Speech perception: A special mechanism or a specialized cognitive process. In G. Anderson, R. Eggert, & K. Singer (Eds.), CLS 33: Papers from the 33rd regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, vol. 2, The Parasession on Phonetics.

Francis, A. L., & Nusbaum, H. C. (1999). Evaluating the quality of synthetic speech. In D. Gardner-Bonneau (Ed.), Human Factors and Voice Interactive Systems, Kluwer Press.

Selected Courses
Autumn 1999 - Cognitive Neurospsychology
Winter 2000 - Attention
Spring 2000 - Speech Perception
Spring 2000 - Mind
2000-2001 - Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Processing
2000-2001 - Memory and Learning
2000-2001 - Mind