Lisa Davidson, PhD

Lisa Davidson, PhD

Associate Professor
Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery;
Coordinator
Pediatric Audiology at the CID Oral School

Mailing address

Washington University School of Medicine
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
660 S. Euclid Ave., Campus Box 8115
St. Louis, MO 6311

Research interests

The overall goal of our current research project is to specify how perceptual and cognitive abilities interact to determine relative benefits of sensory devices for children with moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss. We are testing a proposed model of language acquisition that is based on the idea that receptive vocabulary in hearing-impaired children requires the efficient operation and integration of sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities. Children with cochlear implants or digital hearing aids are tested on measures of speech perception, ease of listening, working memory, novel word learning, verbal learning and vocabulary size. We will also examine how sensory device use, speech perception skill, memory, and learning over time affect the gap in language skill between normal hearing and hearing-impaired children. An essential component of our research is developing testing and fitting protocols that assure that children with cochlear implants and hearing aids have devices that are optimized for audibility.

Education

  • BS Communicative Disorders East Tennessee Sate University (1985)
  • MS Speech and Hearing Sciences Washington University (1987)
  • PhD Speech and Hearing Sciences Washington University (2003)

Selected publications

  1. Davidson LS, Geers AE, Brenner C. Cochlear implant characteristics and speech perception skills of adolescents with long-term device use. Otol Neurotol. 2010 Oct;31(8):1310-4.
  2. Uchanski RM, Davidson LS, Quadrizius S, Reeder R, Cadieux J, Kettel J, Chole RA. Two ears and two (or more?) devices: a pediatric case study of bilateral profound hearing loss. Trends Amplif. 2009 Jun:13(2):107-23.
  3. Davidson LS, Skinner MW, Holstad BA, Fears BT, Richter MK, Matusofsky M. Brenner C, Holden T, Birath A, Kettel JL, Scollie S. The effect of instantaneous input dynamic range setting on the speech perception of children with the nucleus 24 implant. Ear Hear. 2009 Jun:30(3):340-9.
  4. Holstad BA, Sonneveldt VG, Fears BT, Davidson LS, Aaron RJ, Richter M. Matusofsky M, Brenner CA, Strube MH, Skinner MW. Relation of electrically evoked compound action potential thresholds to behavioral T- and C-levels in children with cochlear implants. Ear Hear. 2009 Feb;30(1):115-27.
  5. Davidson LS, Skinner, MW. Audibility and speech perception of children using wide-dynamic-range-compression hearing aids. Am J Audiol 2006 Dec;15(2):141-53..
  6. Davidson LS. Effects of stimulus level on the speech perception abilities of children using cochlear implants or hearing aids. Ear Hear. 2006 Oct;27(5):493-507.