2 PhD positions on individual differences in speech perception ability (Nijmegen, NL)

["Janse, Esther" <Esther.Janse@xxxxxx>]

Dear colleagues

I would be grateful if you could distribute the advert below to relevant 
students in your department.
Thank you!


Two PhD positions on individual differences in speech perception ability 
(3.5 years)
(Center for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands)


As a Ph.D student you will participate in the project “What makes a good 
listener? Correlates of speech comprehension ability in young and older 
listeners”. This project is funded in the form of a VIDI Grant by the 
Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research, directed by Esther Janse.

General project description:
When listening to spoken language, people vary considerably in their 
listening proficiency, even if their objective hearing sensitivity is 
taken into account. This project attempts to identify which individual 
abilities predict speech-processing ability across a range of speech 
materials and in different listening conditions. The aim is to develop a 
new model of speech recognition in everyday listening.

Project information Ph.D student 1: Individual differences in the 
perception of conversational speech.
This project intends to investigate how several aspects of 
conversational speech (such as articulation clarity and dysfluencies) 
interact with individual listener abilities in speech recognition.

Project information Ph.D student 2: Individual differences in perceptual 
learning.
When presented with distorted speech or novel listening conditions (such 
as after initial hearing-aid fitting), listeners may improve over 
exposure. This project attempts to describe perceptual reorganization 
processes and to identify correlates of perceptual learning.

Your research will be embedded in the Center for Language Studies at 
Radboud University Nijmegen (www.ru.nl/cls, see Linguistic Information 
Processing subtheme). The current project also connects to the 
Individual Differences in Language Processing research group at the Max 
Planck institute for Psycholinguistics 
(http://www.mpi.nl/research/research-projects/individual-differences).

The positions are available as of 1 September 2011. Applications should 
include the candidate's CV, a sample of their writing, grade lists, and 
names and e-mail addresses of two potential referees. Closing date for 
applications: 20 May 2011.

For additional information, please go to: 
http://www.ru.nl/vacatures/details/details_vacature_0?recid=503248
Or send me an email:	Esther.Janse@xxxxxx