Abstract: Voice pathologies occur across the life span, are disabling, interfere with gainful employment and compromise quality of life. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication 7.5 million people in the United States have voice disorders. It has been estimated that over 1 million or 6-9% children suffer from dysphonia nationwide. Estimates indicate that anywhere from 3-9% of the population has some type of voice dysfunction at any given point in time. Reported occurrence of hoarseness in the school-aged children ranges from 6%-23%. Dysphonia can be detrimental both psychologically and academically, hence early identification and restoration of optimal vocal health is critical. If untreated, dysphonia can substantially increase health care costs. Unfortunately, efficient diagnosis and effective management of voice disorders is challenged by difficulty accessing professionals with the necessary expertise and the availability of valid instrumentation to capture highly aperiodic voice qualities to diagnose and treat voice problems efficiently. To address these issues, technological advancements from a collaborative team of interdisciplinary experts in the fields of medicine, engineering, physics, and psychology show great promise for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of voice disorders assessment and treatment. This talk will focus on my current interdisciplinary work for advancing clinical assessment of voice disorders across the lifespan in the areas of laryngeal imaging, computational fluid dynamics, and mobile technology.

Biography: Dr. Rita Patel is an associate professor at the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University and an adjunct associate professor at the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Indiana University School of Medicine. Her research and clinical expertise focus on addressing voice and upper airway disorders in adult and pediatric population, with specialization in endoscopic laryngeal imaging. Dr. Patel has been awarded 8 extramural grants from National agencies including ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association) and NIH (National Institutes of Health); and 5 intramural grants. In 2022, Dr. Patel was awarded fellow by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) for her outstanding contributions to research and excellent teaching in the area of voice and voice disorders. Currently, Dr. Patel serves as the editor for the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and as an Advisory Board Member of Voice Foundation. She also serves as a reviewer for numerous journals in the fields of laryngology and speech language pathology and also serves as grant reviewer for the NIH study section, the Voice Foundation, and ASHA.

~BME Host: Young Kim~

NOTE:  Students registered for the seminar are expected to attend in-person.

Zoom link: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/5593290378?pwd=eFBOZFlNTU50ZDA2S2gwcnpyOWIwUT09