Expertise

Keywords:

  1. Transgender
  2. Psycholinguistics
  3. Speech perception
  4. Speech acoustics
  5. Phonetics
  6. Community engaged scholarship

Dr. Merritt's research investigates 1) the acoustic-phonetic variability that differentiates speakers of varying gender identities (e.g., agender, non-binary, transgender men, and transgender women) and 2) listeners' perception of this variability.

Current work is examining the extent to which speech differs across speakers of varying gender identities between American English and Mexican Spanish, and how Spanish listeners perceptually represent speaker gender.

Skills and Expertise

  • Speech Perception
  • Acoustic Phonetics
  • Transgender persons
  • Health Services for Transgender Persons
  • Voice

Interests include speech communication and gender diversity 

Keywords: speech perception; voice; gender; transgender


Research Interests: Projection and perception of speaker gender through speech; psycholinguistics; phonetics.

Affiliations

Assistant Professor, Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso

PhD Student, Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington

Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington

Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program, College of Health Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso

Assistant Professor, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso

Communities
Audiology, Speech-Language Pathology, Physical Education, Public Health
Degrees
PhD, Indiana University, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 2022
Keywords
gender speech perception speech acoustics phonetics transgender persons psycholinguistics