Meet The ASSL Team

Claire Doorey, Au.D., CCC-A
Ph.D. Student, CSD

Zenzele Thomas

Ph.D. Student

Zenzele Thomas is a biomedical engineering PhD student. Her research project centers around investigating integration of open source BCI technology into clinical grade studies. She is interested in electrophysiology, neural speech tracking, auditory perception, and hearing technology.  

Daniel Chun, Au.D.

Ph.D. Student, CSD

Hoonki (Daniel) Chun is an audiologist with his degree from the University of South Florida. His research interests center on spatial hearing and the development of hearing technologies to improve real-world communication. In 2024, he completed his Audiology Doctoral Project at the Auditory Neurosciences & Technology (ANT) Lab, where he investigated spatial release from masking and the role of head movement in complex listening environments. Dr. Chun received his clinical training at Citrus Hearing Clinic in Clermont, Florida. 

Heesung Park, Ph.D.

Postdoc

Heesung Park gladly joined the ANT Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher in the summer of 2023. He previously worked as a research audiologist at Samsung Medical Center in South Korea and obtained his Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from James Madison University. His research focuses on selective auditory attention in spatial hearing and the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms for better listening. He loves spending time with his family and playing basketball. 

Lara Luedeman

3rd Year Au.D. Student

Lara Luedeman joined the ANT Lab to complete her Audiology Doctoral Project under Dr. Claire Dorey Au.D., and Dr. Erol Ozmeral, PhD. Her project explores the role of extended high frequencies in speech in noise tasks. Her research interest includes speech perception and auditory processing. 

Jacob Gordon

3rd Year Au.D. Student

Jake joined the ANT Lab in 2025 to complete his Audiology Doctoral Project under Dr. Higgins, Dr. Ozmeral, and Dr. Rallapalli. His research project centers around how hearing aids perform in difficult listening environments.   

Sophia Grilla

3rd Year Au.D. Student

Sophia Grilla joined the ANT Lab to complete her Audiology Doctoral Project under Dr. Nate Higgins, PhD, and Dr. Erol Ozmeral, PhD. Her project explores hearing aid benefit in multi-talker situations by comparing different speech-in-noise programs, with the goal of reducing listening fatigue and cognitive load. Her clinical interests include amplification, cochlear implants, and the pediatric population.

Virginia Kettler

2nd Year Au.D. Student

Virginia Kettler recently joined the ANT Lab to complete her Audiology Doctoral Project under Zenzele Thomas. Her research project centers around the validation of a behavioral corpus with a focus on pronoun-antecedent passages used for assessing working memory. 

Larsen Godfrey

2nd Year Au.D. Student

Larsen Godfrey is studying to become a clinical audiologist. Larsen is currently working on his Audiology Doctoral Project in the ANT lab with the Spatial Boundaries 4 study. This study researches how different features of the Phonak Sphere hearing aids can assist in providing a spatial release from masking. Larsen is interested in working with adult populations with a focus on hearing aids, vestibular, and tinnitus. 

Emily Pokrant

2nd Year Au.D. Student

Emily Pokrant is an audiology doctoral student in her second year. She recently joined the ANT Lab to complete her Audiology Doctoral Project under Dr. Claire Dorey, and Dr. Erol Ozmeral. Her research project centers around exploring the connection between hidden hearing loss, electrophysiology, cognition, and demographics. Her clinical interests include amplification, tinnitus, hidden hearing loss and auditory processing disorder.