Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Theatre

This dissertation project uses a phenomenological approach to better understand the aural experience of audiences in theatrical productions and to advance the study of the art of sound design beyond the level of technical manuals. The arrangement of the audience within the theatre space is an often-overlooked variable that affects how the audience listens to and contextualizes the performance. In addition to aural framing, this dissertation explores the concepts of noise, silence, aural intimacy, mediatization, immersive audio, audience reception, and the communal experience of listening in thrust, arena, proscenium, and immersive stages.

Bachelor of Science of Media Arts and Studies (BSC), Ohio University, 2022, Media Arts and Studies

In my creative project and associated paper, I explore the post sound process and view each element in a technical or subjective light. While sound is based on physics, a technical science, I consider myself more of an artist than a scientist. But where is it that we draw this distinction between elements that can be viewed as good or bad, successful or unsuccessful, and creative elements that can be viewed as subjective? In my creative project, I mixed a television pilot, called For Nothing, and had a professional post sound designer friend of mine do the same. In this paper, I walk through my mixing process, as well as compare the two mixes of For Nothing to judge how similar or how different two sound designers may think.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Communication Sciences

Purpose: Although most children with speech sound disorders are able to remediate their errors, some individuals have errors that persist into late childhood and even adulthood. These individuals are considered to have residual speech sound errors (RSSEs), and they are at risk for social, academic, and employment difficulties. Most individuals with RSSEs have participated in years of traditional speech therapy with little success. Visual biofeedback provides an alternative method of treatment that may be what finally allows these individuals to remediate their errors. This study utilized Opti-Speech, a visual biofeedback software that uses electromagnetic articulography to create a threedimensional rendering of the tongue that moves in real time with the participant's own tongue, for the remediation of RSSEs. Method: This single subject multiple baseline design included 18 participants (11 males and 7 females) who ranged from 8 -22 years of age. Speech sounds addressed in treatment included "r", "s", "sh", "ch", and "l". Participants attended an average of three baseline sessions and ten treatment sessions that utilized Opti-Speech visual biofeedback, and returned for a two-month follow-up. Results: Perceptual measures were based on generalization to untreated words. Eleven of the 18 participants were able to make clinically significant improvements for their target sound by their final treatment session, and 11 of 16 participants who returned for follow19 up measures had made clinically significant improvement on their target sound. When final session perceptual ratings were compared to follow-up, eight of the nine participants who presented with clinically significant improvement for their target sound were able to maintain their progress or presented with significantly improved speech sound skills. However, generalization was not seen at the sentence level. When considered as a group, clinically significant improvements were seen overal (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2012, Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to show how mathematics can be used to analyze effects on sound. Our hope is that this may inspire student interest in mathematics. We analyzed five common industry standard effects. Research data was gathered using Mathematica and GarageBand software. Three versions of each effect were used to alter pure tone sound waves of ten different frequencies using GarageBand. Then using Mathematica's Fourier command, the frequency spectrum of each altered sound wave was generated. Through observation of each set of 30 frequency spectra, the most prominent and common pure tone components were determined. For each effect, Mathematica's Fit command was used to determine a best fit model of the magnitude of each component as a function of frequency. Our models provide descriptions of the effects that are consistent with the traditional descriptions of the industry standard effects in our study. If similar research is to be conducted, our recommendation is that more versions of each effect, a wider range of input frequencies, and a higher sampling rate would produce function models that are even more consistent with traditionally accepted effect descriptions. Furthermore, an understanding of the hardware and software design used to build effects on sound is highly recommended.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2025, Psychology

Sound design in virtual environments plays a large role in enhancing human behavior and performance in video games. However, headphones and earphones are limited compared to unobstructed hearing outside of virtual environments. Thus, a gap exists between directional sound cue detection afforded in virtual environments versus non-virtual environments. The present study aimed to investigate if intensifying the sharpness of a soundwave elicited quicker responses and head turns inside a virtual environment. Forty Miami University students (ages ≥ 18) heard 6 trials of knocks in a hexagonal virtual room for 3 different sound manipulation conditions and were instructed to quickly look towards the correct door and state its direction (via door color) aloud. Participants' reaction time was recorded in seconds, as well as their accuracy. Results show there may be a significant difference in reaction time based on directional sound origin, but that sound manipulation otherwise has no effect on reaction time and accuracy. Transient shaping may not be the way in which sound is made more useful in virtual environments. Different types of headphones and different types of sound manipulations should be investigated in future iterations of this study.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2008, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Speech and Hearing Science

The three manuscripts presented here examine concepts related to speech perception in noise and ways to overcome poor speech intelligibility without depriving listeners of environmental sound recognition. Because of hearing-impaired (HI) listeners' auditory deficits, there is a substantial need for speech-enhancement (noise reduction) technology. Recent advancements in deep learning have resulted in algorithms that significantly improve the intelligibility of speech in noise, but in order to be suitable for real-world applications such as hearing aids and cochlear implants, these algorithms must be causal, talker independent, corpus independent, and noise independent. Manuscript 1 involves human-subjects testing of a novel, time-domain-based algorithm that fulfills these fundamental requirements. Algorithm processing resulted in significant intelligibility improvements for both HI and normal-hearing (NH) listener groups in each signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise type tested. In Manuscript 2, the range of speech-to-background ratios (SBRs) over which NH and HI listeners can accurately perform both speech and environmental recognition was determined. Separate groups of NH listeners were tested in conditions of selective and divided attention. A single group of HI listeners was tested in the divided attention experiment. Psychometric functions were generated for each listener group and task type. It was found that both NH and HI listeners are capable of high speech intelligibility and high environmental sound recognition over a range of speech-to-background ratios. The range and location of optimal speech-to-background ratios differed across NH and HI listeners. The optimal speech-to-background ratio also depended on the type of environmental sound present. Conventional deep-learning algorithms for speech enhancement target maximum intelligibly by removing as much noise as possible while maintaining the essential characteristics of the target speech signal (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science in Engineering, Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

As the world population grows into a more urbanized state, the concern for noise pollution continues to grow with it. Noise pollution has been shown to be a source of several negative health consequences, including ill impacts on cardiovascular health, mental health and sleep hygiene. Some solutions are able to effectively reduce noise pollution. One example is highway noise barriers that reduce traffic noise to a bearable level for residential areas located near the highway. These sound barriers, however, not only cost a lot of money and require a significant amount of resources, but structural limitations and the ever growing noise floor will eventually cause these barriers to be obsolete. This study aims to evaluate the design of 3D printed sound absorbing acoustic panels that could augment if not replace current acoustical treatments. In so doing, four different designs of sound panels were 3D printed and tested for their effectiveness in reducing reverberation time and sound amplitude in a controlled environment. It was found that all four of the designs printed in this study notably reduce reverberation time by up to 12.7%, three of which also significantly reduced the amplitude of the sound by up to 5 dB. The aforementioned designs thus can serve as a useful adjunct to reducing sound pollution and all the ill effects caused by it, along with the added benefit of employing the accessibility of 3D printing along with its lower-cost materials.

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2020, Communication Sciences

Purpose: The primary aims of this study were to examine narrative skills in children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) compared to children with speech sound disorder with and without language impairment (SSD+LI, SSD-only). Method: Participants were preschool-aged children with diagnosed CAS, SSD-only, and SSD+LI. Diagnoses were confirmed by a certified speech-language pathologist with standardized speech and language testing. Participants completed narrative retell task with the Fox and Bear story. Performance in narrative microstructure, macrostructure and comprehension were compared with analysis of variance between the three groups. Results: Participants with CAS told narratives that contained fewer story sequence items, and limited vocabulary. Analysis revealed slight differences in expressive language skills between participants with CAS and SSD+LI. Conclusions: Children with CAS experience deficits in later literacy predictors. Intervention for children with CAS should focus expressive language skills, in addition to speech sound production.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2019, Mass Communication (Communication)

With fierce battles and the speeches that take a personal turn, the sound clash competition is not for the thin skin individual who lack a way with words. Since the inception of the art form during the 1940s in Kingston, Jamaica sound system culture remains a cultural apparatus spreading Caribbean culture and music worldwide. The sound clash is identified as one of the most entertaining events where competitors square off with customized songs known as dubplates and speech as they work to defeat each other by gaining the adulation of the crowd. The sound clash is an event where the emcee (MC) and selector work in conjunction to provide an entertaining event for attendees. This study examines the impact of technological adaptation in sound clash competition. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of disruptive technologies on the performance of sound system operators. As sound system culture evolved, the adaptation of various technological components has played a significant role in how the culture progressed. During the early period, sound system operators utilized rudimentary public address (PA) components for the reproduction of music. As access to equipment became ubiquitous, sound system owners began amassing components making their system increasingly more powerful with upgraded amplifiers and speakers. What began as a system capable of producing 300 watts eventually morphed into a juggernaut system capable of producing 20,000 watts. As new equipment developed, owners continued to add components making their sets more powerful. This study adopts a qualitative methodology utilizing in-depth interviews for data collection. To discern the impact of disruptive technology on sound clash performance, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven participants involved in sound clash culture in various levels. The data was coded through open coding in the first cycle and axial coding in the second cycle. The data was then analyzed through a the (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2019, Musicology

Video games are ubiquitous in American culture, and their sounds have worked their way into the popular soundscape over the past half-century. At the same time, game songs continue to grant musicians and audiences a safe space in which to try out new identities, and a forum in which to engage in critical commentary. Combinations of game concepts and themes with other styles like symphonic music present opportunities for new types of audience experiences. No longer just one part of a video game, these sounds and narratives have influenced numerous musical genres, provided outlets for identity exploration and community building, and become entities unto themselves. Aural aspects of video games are just as important as visual ones in creating feelings of immersion for the player, and many people today share feelings of enthusiasm, nostalgia, and joy for the bleeps and bloops of early consoles as well as for the sound effects emitted from more modern gaming systems. Sonic cues from games weave their ways into popular culture, so much so that Pac-Man's “wacka wacka” sound and Mario's “game over” music take on new meanings. Sometimes they infiltrate dance music or establish platforms for parodies and tributes, providing bases for new musical communities and subcultures. They also work their ways into the realm of contemporary classical music, sparking experiments that combine game-inspired sounds, concepts, and images with various musical forms and genres. Additionally, game sounds give us an aural connection to the expanding relationships between new technologies and popular culture. In this dissertation, I consider what happens to game sound when it is reframed and experienced outside of an in-game context, and examine how musicians have used game sounds to reshape the cultural coding of video games in America. My primary interest here is not the in-game functions of sounds themselves, which have been discussed extensively elsewhere, but how different subcultures (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2019, Music

Cultural noise has been on the rise for many years now, and due to this many “tune out” their environments. While this may not seem like a problem, the rise in ambient noise levels has been shown to cause psychological and physiological harm to those exposed to high levels. The drone of everyday life is beginning to take control of the acoustic landscapes that we live in. I remind you that humans cannot close their ears. Hearing is involuntary. To avoid damage to our acoustic environments and to our health, I encourage you to listen for the nuances you may not have heard before. I hope this soundwalk will lead you to listen to the sounds around you and to imagine the tragedy of losing them.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1977, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Interpersonal communication is a vital component of everyday life which can be negatively affected by speech sound disorders (SSD). SSD affect articulation and phonological processes, are the most common type of communication disorder, and occur in 16% of three year olds. Despite the frequency with which they occur, SSD are relatively understudied compared to other communication disorders such as dyslexia and specific language impairment. SSD can occur due to craniofacial abnormalities, hearing loss, as a symptom of certain syndromes, or due to unknown causes. SSD of unknown cause are heritable with monozygotic twin concordance rates of 0.95, but the genetic basis is not well defined. Many previous studies have focused upon FOXP2, a gene harboring a causal mutation in one large family, or genes and loci associated with language impairment (LI) or dyslexia (RD), frequently comorbid conditions. The weakness of these approaches is they are self-limiting and cannot identify novel loci. Consequently, it would be beneficial to address the etiology of SSD agnostically to identify novel loci and characterize the genetic architecture of what is likely a multifactorial disorder. To do so, data from the Cleveland Family Speech and Reading Study, a longitudinal study of children with SSD, were used to perform the first known genome-wide association study on traits associated with SSD endophenotypes in a sample ascertained based on speech sound disorder diagnosis. This analysis identified novel loci, replicated previous findings, and informed hypotheses regarding biological pathways that may be involve in SSD. To investigate the impact of LI and RD on genetic association with SSD endophenotypes, the changes in genetic effect estimates after adjusting for the conditions were analyzed. Some effects were unchanged by LI and RD status suggesting a foundational role of these loci in human communication. Finally a pathway analysis revealed similarities between SSD and oth (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, Interdisciplinary Arts (Fine Arts)

Proceeding from the fact that blackness is yoked to the visual, this dissertation uncovers some of the ways in which performative, expressive, and artistic uses of sound and music can work to disquiet racializing scopic regimes or “black visuality.” Herein, I follow scholars like Paul Gilroy, Lindon Barrett, Fred Moten, and Nicole Fleetwood—the latter of whom enjoins that foreclosing the visual to blackness is self-negating. My methodology consists of extremely close analysis performed on a heterogeneous array of black cultural objects and practices that function as interconnected case studies. Specifically, Sonic Overlook examines the voice, noise and improvisation, sampling and remixing, natural and industrial soundscapes, avant-garde film and cinematic voiceover, film scores, and jazz, hip-hop, and blues. Chapter One thinks through issues of blackness and sonicity by performing an exegesis on Miles Davis and his “voice,” which comprises a variety of significatory and affective practices including, but not limited to, vocal utterances. In reading an iconic post-beating photograph along with Miles' music and performance, I demonstrate how the use and refusal of the (black) voice assumes deep significance. Chapter Two considers William Greaves' singular cinematic experiment, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (1968), arguing that a seemingly oblique or “absent” engagement with blackness is foundational to the film's overarching strategies of misdirection and leads to explicit epistemological and ontological claims about race made through sound; Symbiopsychotaxiplasm elides black visuality by not talking about blackness but by sounding it instead. Chapter Three reads a variety of objects—DJ Spooky's The Rebirth of a Nation (2004), Black Kirby's remix-inspired visual art, and Killer Mike and El-P's song and video, “Reagan”—in order to establish remixing as a signal sort of conceptual mobility often connected to visual fields but that also works to disrupt racist ocular modes. Chap (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2014, Interdisciplinary Arts (Fine Arts)

This is a project of performing three sonic archives: the Berea College Appalachian Sound Archives in Kentucky, the Sun Ra/El Saturn Collection of the Creative Audio Archives in Chicago, and the Little Cities Archive in southeastern Ohio. Here, I define “performing the archive” (Calzadilla and Marcus 2006; Osthoff 2009; RC Smith 2003) as any interpretive act related to the archive, including (but not limited to) listening, musical and visual appropriation, historiography, and ethnographic fieldwork and analysis. I offer “sonic archives” as a distinct genre that requires new archival approaches––rooted in listening and sound––that do not exclude traditional archives but add to and complement them. As such, listening is my primary method used throughout the dissertation. It is both performative and dialogical, and a direct way to sonically engage with people, place, and archival materials. My interest lies in listening to the archive's sonic components “across the grain” (Zeitlyn 2012; Comaroff and Comaroff 1991), grounding them in senses of place, and hearing the diversity of the voices they contain. I focus on the smaller stories––flawed, open-ended, fragmented, interstitial––that coalesce to form the body of an archive listened to and performed “from below” (Sekula 1986). Listening is employed in two different methodological contexts, “sonic ethnography” and “archival performance.” Sonic ethnography involves a deep engagement with both the archival materials and the people and places they are connected to. Archival performance allows for an embodied re-imagining and re-contextualization of the archive. Together, these methodologies form the basis of this dissertation's assertion to not only listen to archives “from below” but also to allow the interpretive act of remixing to be informed by this perspective. Thus, “performing the sonic archive” brings together the analytical and creative work of scholars and artists––including myself––that seek to use, reinterpret, (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, Linguistics

The Neogrammarian Principle, that sound change must be phonetically conditioned and exceptionless, has developed into a well-accepted heuristic that is the foundation for the comparative method. However, during the 20th century, researchers discovered a number of changes in sounds that had developed perfectly regular correspondences, but without the required phonetic conditioning environment, apparent sound-changes-in-progress that were not entirely regular, and confirmed that speech sounds are highly variable from utterance to utterance, and from talker to talker. A terminological dispute erupted over what counted as sound change, and was settled by the introduction of new terminology, such as the initiation or actuation and spread or diffusion of sound change. Because of the usefulness of the Neogrammarian principle to historical and comparative linguists, researchers who examine other aspects of sound change have largely avoided direct confrontation, allowing the gradual narrowing of the meaning of the term sound change to refer to something that is very small in scale in order to maintain its phonetic conditioning and exceptionlessness, even though the phenomena to which it first referred were very broad and sweeping changes. While there is debate about just what may be considered sound change, the larger goals of all linguists studying sound change is to understand how sound change works, to isolate the causes and mechanisms of change, to better understand language, and hopefully one day be able to make predictions about sound change. In this dissertation, I outline a general model of phonetically gradual sound change, using experimental evidence to support its premises. This general model holds that while the basis for sound change is phonetic variation, the actuation period of sound change begins when the phonetic variation is associated with some other co-occurring factor, whether phonetic, phonological, physical, social, grammatical, syntactic, etc., or i (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2004, Film (Fine Arts)

We often talk about the mysterious Magic of the Movies , the unique ability of the filmic medium to take the audience into another world, another era, even another galaxy. We also talk about films unique ability to record life as it happens and to document what is going on in our world, be it right where we live or at the most remote place on Earth. But whenever we look at film as an art form, most of us tend to exclusively credit the visual component of the film, i.e. cinematography, topped off with the occasional thought on editing. The sonic component of film, however, is unjustly ignored most of the time. Sure, we know the name Hans Zimmer from Gladiator or Danny Elfman from Batman and most recently Spider-Man 2 , but how many of us know who recorded the location sound on Master and Commander ? The goal of Ton & Traum is to give the film-soundtrack the credit it deserves. I will start out with an analysis on how music, dialogue, and sound effects work together and show what powerful a tool for storytelling and creation of drama and suspense the soundtrack is in the right hands. The second section will look at the soundtrack following different theoretical approaches such as semiotics and psychoanalysis. The third and final section will take it from there and look at the use of Sound Effects in the Sci-Fi TV series Stargate SG-1 . I hope to demonstrate the importance of the film-soundtrack in order to create that certain Magic of the Movies . I hope to show that film (and Television) is a carefully balanced compound of certain elements that come together - one of them being the soundtrack - to bring the filmic work of art to life.

Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 2012, Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Speech Sound Disorders are the most common speech problems among children. However, there is little information about long-term effects of this disorder. Speech Sound Disorder can be determined through a combination of articulation and phonological processing tests. Although there are well agreed upon cut-off points for articulation measures, there are not appropriate cut-off points for phonological processing measures in order to determine if an individual has Speech Sound Disorder later in life. Because of this gap of information, this study set forth to develop appropriate cut-off points for phonological processing measures that can be used for all ages. The study then examined what childhood tests relate to Persistent Speech Sound Disorder and finally what social outcomes later in life are associated with Residual Speech Errors. Persistent Speech Sound Disorder was found to be related to cognitive functioning while Residual Speech Errors were found to be significantly associated with Childhood Depression.

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Music Education/Comprehensive Music Education

The purpose of this study was to determine high school band directors' soundexposure levels relative to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace standards. Subjects for this study were four band directors from northwest Ohio and east central Illinois. Two directors regularly rehearsed in non-acoustically treated facilities, and two regularly rehearsed in facilities that have received acoustic treatments. Data were collected in the fall and early spring semesters of the 2007-2008 school year using Larson Davis Spark 706RC Personal Noise Dosimeters, devices used to measure and calculate decibel exposure. Measurement times and ensemble samples varied depending on the subject's schedule. Two dose parameters on the dosimeters were set to correlate to the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards for permissible exposure limits (PEL) and hearing conservation (HC) limits, and a third to the ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists) threshold limit value (TLV) standard for noise exposure. Results showed that each director experienced decibel levels that would either make them eligible, or very close to eligible, for a hearing conservation program. Implications for music education included that directors should strongly consider wearing musicians' earplugs during rehearsals. Directors should also try to determine their own decibel exposure levels through the use of noise dosimeters or decibel meters to determine their need or eligibility for a hearing conservation program. Suggestions for further research included comparing how well directors hear various aspects of musical ensembles both with and without musicians' earplugs.