Meet the Team

Current Members

 

Robert Lutfi, PhD
Professor, Communication Science and Disorders
Office: PCD 3021
rlutfi@usf.edu
CV

Dr. Lutfi's research focuses on human auditory perception. He is particularly interested in how one's ability to detect and recognize complex sounds in noise is affected by both lawful and random variation in sound, as occurs in nature. He has published on a wide range of topics on human auditory perception, including humanauditory frequency analysis, human auditory pattern analysis, computational models of auditory masking, the perception of auditory motion, sound source identification, the auditory abilities of children and the problem of listening in noise for the hard-of-hearing.


 

Jungmee Lee, PhD
AuD Program Director
Office: PCD 4021C
jungmeelee@usf.edu
CV

Dr. Lee's major training is in experimental psychology, specializing in auditory perception (psychoacoustics). The research focus has been on perception mechanisms of time-varying signals like speech and music (auditory temporal processing) in both normal and impaired hearing system. Recently her research has been expanded to combine knowledge of physiological measure (i.e., otoacoustic emissions) and psychoacoustics to better understand the auditory system. 


 

 Briana Rodriguez
Research Assistant
AuD & PhD Doctoral Student
Bcrodriguez@usf.edu

Briana Rodriguez got her Bachelors in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Bachelors of Aging Sciences from the ßÙßÇÂþ»­. She is a Ph.D. candidate, recipient of the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship, and audiology extern with ENT & Allergy Associates of Florida (ENTAAF). Her research interests lie in the areas of auditory perception/intervention and psychoacoustics. Briana has experience working with veteran, geriatric, and Spanish-speaking populations.


 

Lindsey Kummerer, AuD
Research Assistant
PhD Doctoral Student
Lkummerer@usf.edu

CV

Lindsey Kummerer earned her Doctor of Audiology degree from the University of South Florida (USF) in 2023.  She is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at USF. Her current research interests are understanding speech-in-noise (SIN) difficulties and the individual differences when listening to SIN for both hearing impaired and normal hearing indidviduals. Her other interests include the different physiological measures of SIN difficulties, including otoacoustic emissions, the middle ear muscle reflex (MEMR) and extended high frequency measures. 

 


Angelina Natalie
Research Assistant
AuD Doctoral Student
angelinanatalie@usf.edu

Angelina Natalie got her CSD Bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 2022. She is currently perusing her AuD as a second-year student in the program. Her audiology doctoral project aims to connect questionnaire data to objective test results while also showing the importance of looking beyond the audiogram. 


Sarah Grover
Research Assistant
AuD Doctoral Student
Grover15@usf.edu

Sarah Grover got her Bachelor's degree from Southeast Missouri State University in 2019. She is currently getting her AuD and PhD in audiology. She is interested in subclinical hearing loss and individual differences research.


  

Christa Ratcliff
Research Assistant
AuD Doctoral Student
Cmfletcher@usf.edu

Christa Ratcliff, B.S., 2nd Year Au.D/Ph.D student. Originally from Orlando, FL, she completed her Bachelors of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from University of Central Florida. Her research areas of interest include: subclinical hearing loss, music advantage, and auditory processing. 


 

Michael Zandona
Research Assistant
AuD Doctoral Student
Mgzandona@usf.edu

 Mike Zandona got his Bachelor's in Applied Linguistics and Japanese from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His current research interests include bilingual speech perception, speech perception in noise, and psychoacoustics. 


Chase Ontario
Research Assistant
AuD Doctoral Student
chasekozak@usf.edu
 


Gabriella Brown
Research Assistant
Undergraduate
brown421@usf.edu
Gabriella Brown is a senior undergraduate student at USF with a major in Language, Speech, and Hearing Sciences, and a double minor in Deaf Studies and Children’s Behavioral Healthcare. Her current research interests examine individual differences and the learning effect for the Quick Speech-in-Noise (QuickSIN) task, and its overall reliability for clinical use.

Alberta Tran
Research Assistant
Undergraduate
alberta40@usf.edu
 
 

Reagan Huynh
Research Assistant
Undergraduate
huynh261@usf.edu