Meet the Team
Current Members
Principal Investigators
Robert Lutfi, PhD
Professor
Office: PCD 3021
rlutfi@usf.edu
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Dr. Lutfi's research focuses on human auditory perception. He is particularly interested
in how one's ability to detect and recognize complex sounds in noise is affected by
both lawful and random variation in sound, as occurs in nature. He has published on
a wide range of topics on human auditory perception, including humanauditory frequency
analysis, human auditory pattern analysis, computational models of auditory masking,
the perception of auditory motion, sound source identification, the auditory abilities
of children and the problem of listening in noise for the hard-of-hearing.
Jungmee Lee, PhD
AuD Program Director
Office: PCD 4021C
jungmeelee@usf.edu
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Dr. Lee's major training is in experimental psychology, specializing in auditory perception (psychoacoustics). The research focus has been on perception mechanisms of time-varying signals like speech and music (auditory temporal processing) in both normal and impaired hearing system. Recently her research has been expanded to combine knowledge of physiological measure (i.e., otoacoustic emissions) and psychoacoustics to better understand the auditory system.
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Lindsey Kummerer, AuD
Research Assistant
PhD Doctoral Student
Lkummerer@usf.edu
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Lindsey Kummerer earned her Doctor of Audiology degree from the University of South Florida (USF) in 2023. She is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at USF. Her current research interests are understanding speech-in-noise (SIN) difficulties and the individual differences when listening to SIN for both hearing impaired and normal hearing indidviduals. Her other interests include the different physiological measures of SIN difficulties, including otoacoustic emissions, the middle ear muscle reflex (MEMR) and extended high frequency measures.
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Abigail Lebedeker graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor's in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2023. She is now pursuing her AuD as a second-year student. Her audiology doctoral project aims to examine extended high-frequency otoacoustic emissions data in musicians, evaluating its potential application as a subclinical tool for early detection of noise-induced hearing loss in musicians.
Claudia Rento
Research Assistant
AuD Doctoral Student
rentoc@usf.edu
My name is Claudia Rento. I am a second year in the audiology doctorate program at USF. I graduated with a B.S. in communication disorders and a double minor in disability studies and cognitive science from William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. My clinical interests are in diagnostic hearing tests and hearing aid programming. My research project focuses on analyzing the external validity of clinical measures, like the SSQ questionnaire, in predicting ability of hearing impaired listeners to make decisions identifying target speech in the presence of background noise.
Morgan Goeser
Research Assistant
AuD Doctoral Student
meg22@usf.edu
Morgan Goeser graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Speech-Language-Hearing and a minor in vocal performance in 2023. She is currently pursuing her AuD at USF, and her clinical interests include vestibular testing, pediatrics, and tinnitus. Her research interests include understanding and improving outcomes for individuals with hearing loss and normal hearing that experience difficulties understanding speech in noise.
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Gabriella Vargas
Research Assistant
Undergraduate
gabriellavargas@usf.edu
Gabriella Vargas is a third-year Language Speech and Hearing Sciences major graduating
in May of 2026. Her interest in audiology sparked in her first semester at USF when
she was introduced to the field. Since then, her love for audiology has grown immensely
over the years. She joined this lab to immerse herself into research and gain as much
experience as she can in preparation to start her Doctorate of Audiology degree journey.
In the future she plan to expand her knowledge and use the experience gained in this
lab to begin her own research for the hearing impaired and normal hearing communities.
Post-baccalaureate
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Isabella Manera
Research Assistant
Post-baccalaureate
imanera@usf.edu
Isabella Manera graduated from the University of Florida in 2024 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in marine science and a minor in wildlife ecology and conservation. After graduation, she began shadowing a speech-language pathologist and quickly discovered a deep interest in the field, which led her to pursue post-baccalaureate studies in communication sciences and disorders. She joined this lab after taking an Intro to Hearing Science course and became very interested in the study of sound and sound perception.