Lindsey Kummerer, AuD, a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has been selected to receive the 2026 PhD Research Scholarship from the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD).
Kummerer was notified of the award by CAPCSD Vice President of Research and Academic Affairs John McCarthy, PhD, who commended her for submitting a “strong application” that earned high marks across multiple reviewers. The competitive national scholarship will support her dissertation research and the completion of her doctoral program.
"We received many applications," McCarthy wrote. "Your strong application, CV, and letter of support received high scores. The Board of Directors and I wish to extend our best wishes to you for receiving this competitive scholarship."
Kummerer’s dissertation, "Diagnosing Individual Difficulties Understanding Speech‑in‑Noise: A Combined Model‑Based and PCA Approach," aims to tackle one of audiology’s most persistent clinical challenges: understanding why some individuals struggle to hear speech in noisy environments, even when standard hearing tests appear normal.
Her research combines principal component analysis with a model‑based framework to identify which auditory and cognitive processes contribute most to speech‑in‑noise difficulty. The goal is to develop a streamlined, clinically feasible test battery that more accurately identifies the source of a patient’s listening challenges and guides targeted intervention.
"The ultimate goal is to bridge research and practice by creating a diagnostic tool that audiologists can adopt realistically, thereby making a meaningful difference in patient care," Kummerer said.
Kummerer, mentored by Jungmee Lee, PhD, conducts her research in USF’s Auditory Behavioral Research Laboratory and currently serves as a visiting assistant instructor and audiologist in the USF Hearing Clinic, where she supervises doctoral audiology students. She has presented multiple first‑author posters at national conferences, including the Acoustical Society of America and the American Auditory Society, and received the 2025 Psychological and Physiological Acoustics Best Student Poster Award.
The scholarship will support participant recruitment, data collection, and analysis during the most intensive phase of her dissertation work. Kummerer is expected to defend her dissertation in early 2027.