Skip to main content
Northwestern School of Communication

Pamela Souza

(she/her)
Professor; Fellow, Hugh Knowles Center
Frances Searle Building
2240 Campus Drive
Evanston , IL 60208-2952
CV
My research interests include speech recognition, hearing aids, and the effects of aging and cognitive change on communication. A recurring theme in my scientific work is understanding individual auditory and cognitive abilities in order to customize hearing treatment. My clinical interests include hearing aids, severe hearing loss, hearing assistive technology, tinnitus management and patient education.

Department

Communication Sciences & Disorders

Area(s) of Expertise

Auditory Processing, Hearing, Hearing Aids-Amplification Devices, Memory

Affiliated Center(s)

Hearing Aid Laboratory
Pamela Souza

Pamela Souza received her bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, followed by masters and PhD degrees in Audiology from Syracuse University. She is Professor and Chair in Communication Sciences and Disorders. with secondary faculty appointments in Linguistics and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Souza's research interests include speech recognition, hearing aids, and the effects of aging and cognitive change on communication. A recurring theme in her scientific work is understanding individual auditory and cognitive abilities in order to customize hearing treatment. Dr. Souza is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the Knowles Hearing Center. She is a licensed audiologist with experience in a variety of medical settings. Her clinical interests include hearing aids, severe hearing loss, hearing assistive technology, tinnitus management, and patient education. Dr. Souza's research is funded by the National Institutes on Deafness and Communication Disorders and by the Knowles Hearing Center.

Lab

Education

  • PhD, Audiology, Syracuse University
  • MS, Audiology, Syracuse University
  • BS, Communication Disorders, University of Massachusetts

Recent Publications

  • Souza P, Ellis G, Marks K, Wright R, Gallun F. (in press). Does the speech cue profile predict response to envelope distortion? Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research.
  • Arehart K, Chon S, Harvey L, Kates J, Anderson M, Rallapalli V, Souza P. (in press). A comparison of speech intelligibility and subjective quality with hearing-aid processing in older adults with hearing loss. International Journal of Audiology.
  • Strori D, Bradlow A, Souza P. (2021). Recognizing foreign-accented speech of varying intelligibility and linguistic complexity: Insights from older listeners with and without hearing loss. International Journal of Audiology, 60, 140-150.
  • Turton, L., Souza, P., Thibodeau, L., Hickson, L., Gifford, R., Bird, J., et al. (2020). Guidelines for best practice of the audiological management for adults with severe and profound hearing loss. Seminars in Hearing, 41, 141-245.
  • Souza P. Gallun F, Wright R. (2020). Contributions to speech-cue weighting in older adults with impaired hearing. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 63, 334-344.
  • Rallapalli, V. (2020). Can hearing aid signal fidelity be measured under clinical conditions? Hearing Journal 73, 14-16.
  • Strori D, Bradlow A, Souza P. (2020). Recognizing foreign-accented speech of varying intelligibility and linguistic complexity: Insights from older listeners with and without hearing loss. International Journal of Audiology, September 25, 1-11.
  • Rallapalli V, Ellis G, Souza P. (2020). Effects of directionality, wide dynamic range compression, and working memory on speech. Ear and Hearing, Oct. 29 [epub ahead of print].
  • Ellis G, Souza P. (2020). The effect of hearing loss on localization of amplitude-panned and physical sources. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, Oct. 8 [epub ahead of print].
  • Black S, Souza P. (2020). Cognitive screening practices among audiologists. Audiology Today, 32, 44-51.
  • Strori D, Bradlow A, Souza P. (2020). Recognition of foreign-accented speech in noise: The interplay between talker intelligibility and linguistic complexity. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147, 3765-3782.
  • Miller J, Watson C, Leek M, Wark D, Souza P, Gordon-Salant S, Ahlstron J, Dubno J. (2020). Sentence perception in noise by hearing-aid users predicted by syllable-constituent perception and the use of context. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147, 273-284.
  • Shen J, Sherman M, Souza P. (2020). Test administration methods and cognitive test scores in older adults with hearing loss. Gerontology, 66, 24-32.
  • Calcus A, Schoof T, Rosen S, Shinn-Cunningham B, Souza P. (2020). Switching streams across ears to evaluate informational masking of speech-on-speech. Ear and Hearing, 41, 208-216.
  • Reinhart P, Zahorik P, Souza P. (2020). Interactions between digital noise reduction and reverberation: Acoustic and behavioral effects. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 31, 17-29.
  • Souza P. (2019).20Q: The importance of cognitive assessment in audiology practice. Audiology Online [electronic publication].
  • Stiepan S, Siegel J, Lee J, Souza P, Dhar S. (2019). The association between physiological noise levels and speech understanding in noise. Ear and Hearing, 41, 461-464.
  • Souza P, Arehart K, Schoof T, Anderson M, Strori D, Balmert L. (2019). Understanding variability in individual response to hearing aid signal processing in wearable hearing aids. Ear and Hearing, 40, 1280-1292.
  • Reinhart P, Zahorik P, Souza P. (2019). Effects of reverberation on the relationship between compression speed and working memory for speech-in-noise perception. Ear and Hearing, 40, 1098-1105.
  • Rallapalli V, Anderson M, Kates J, Balmert L, Sirow L, Arehart K, Souza P. (2019). Quantifying the range of signal modification in clinically-fit hearing-aids. Ear and Hearing, 41, 433-441.
  • Shen J, Souza P (2019). The ability to glimpse dynamic pitch in noise by younger and older listeners. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146, EL232.

Recent Funding

  • National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders R01.Characterizing variability in hearing aid outcomes among older adults(principal investigator). 2017-2022.
  • National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders R01,Acoustic effects of WDRC amplification(principal investigator), 2016-2021.
  • National Institutes on Deafness and Communication Disorders K01.Investigating the relationship between directional microphones, compression, and working memory in realistic spatial conditions(sponsor; Varsha Rallapalli, principal investigator), 2019-2022.
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, United Kingdom.Environment-aware Listener-Optimized Speech Processing for Hearing Enhancement in Real Situations (E-LOSPHERES).(consultant; Mark Huckvale, University College London, principal investigator). 2019-2022.

Courses

  • CSD 411 Evaluation and use of amplification systems
  • CSD 519 Pediatric amplification
  • CSD 521 Aging and cognition
  • CSD 551 Responsible conduct of research in communication sciences and disorders