My research is centered around identifying the auditory, cognitive, and linguistic processes that support speech recognition, using an interdisciplinary and computational approach. My current work focuses on understanding how aging and hearing loss affects speech processing in acoustic and electric hearing (i.e., cochlear implant recipients), by examining age- and hearing loss-related changes in auditory function. In addition, I am interested in characterizing the auditory, cognitive, and linguistic processes that underlie (un)successful foreign-accented speech recognition among native and non-native listeners with normal and impaired hearing. The long-term goal is to translate knowledge from this basic research into clinical strategies to optimize speech understanding for older people, people with hearing loss, and second language learners.
Education
- Ph.D., Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, USA, 2018
- M.S., Psychology, Peking University, China, 2013
- B.S., Psychology, Southwest University, China, 2009
Research Interests
Speech Perception, Aging, Cochlear Implants, Auditory Plasticity, Electroencephalography
Teaching Interests
Introduction to Clinical Audiology
Publications & Research
Selected Publications (for a full list, see Google Scholar or ResearchGate)
- Xie, Z., Stakhovskaya, O., Goupell, M. J., & Anderson, S. (2021). Aging effects on cortical responses to tones and speech in adult cochlear-implant users. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 22(6), 719-740.
- Xie, Z., Gaskins, C. R., Shader, M. J., Gordon-Salant, S., Anderson, S., & Goupell, M. J. (2019). Age-related temporal processing deficits in word segments in adult cochlear-implant users. Trends in Hearing, 23, 2331216519886688.
- Xie, Z., Reetzke, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2019). Machine learning approaches to analyze speech-evoked neurophysiological responses. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(3), 587-601.
- Xie, Z., Reetzke, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2018). Taking attention away from the auditory modality: context-dependent effects on early sensory encoding of speech. Neuroscience, 384, 64-75.
- Reetzke, R., Xie, Z., Llanos, F., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2018). Tracing the trajectory of sensory plasticity across different stages of speech learning in adulthood. Current Biology, 28(9), 1419-1427.