Cara Stepp, PhD
Professor
Boston University College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

PhD, Harvard University
SB/ScB, Smith College



Dr. Stepp is the director of the STEPP LAB for Sensorimotor Rehabilitation Engineering at Boston University. Her research uses engineering tools to rehabilitate disordered sensorimotor function of voice and speech. Her long-term research goal is to extend current and novel therapeutic advances to the speech system, improving current treatment alternatives.

Dr. Stepp specializes in voice and speech disorders, integrating speech science, computer science, and engineering to improve diagnosis and rehabilitation of communication-based challenges. She is a past NSF CAREER Award and PECASE recipient, with multiple active federal grants supporting her research, and is a past Peter Paul Career Development Professor. She has published 2 book chapters and more than 100 articles in science and health journals.

Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery




Project 2 - Sensorimotor mechanisms of vocal hyperfunction
04/17/2023 - 03/31/2028 (Subcontract PI)
The General Hospital Corporation d/b/a Massachusetts General Hospital NIH NIDCD
5P50DC015446-07

Comprehensive Assessment of Speech Physiology and Acoustics in Parkinson's Disease Progression
02/02/2023 - 01/31/2028 (PI)
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
5R01DC020867-02

The Lombard effect in muscle tension dysphonia: mechanistic and clinical characterization
09/15/2024 - 09/14/2027 (Key Person / Mentor)
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
1F31DC021863-01A1

Effects of exogenous testosterone therapy on communication in gender diverse speakers
12/01/2021 - 11/30/2026 (PI)
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
5R01DC020061-04

Advance Research Training in Communication Sciences Disorders
07/01/2021 - 06/30/2026 (PI)
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
5T32DC013017-09

Objective Measures for Clinical Assessment of Voice Disorders
08/05/2021 - 05/31/2026 (PI)
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
5R01DC015570-09

Articulatory and prosodic sensorimotor adaptation in speaker-listener interactions
04/01/2023 - 03/31/2026 (Key Person / Mentor)
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
5F31DC021080-02

An RCT of a telemedicine intervention for hypokinetic dysarthria in PD
02/15/2021 - 02/14/2025 (PI)
VA Boston Healthcare System


Effect of producing a desired fundamental frequency on measures of vocal hyperfunction in transgender speakers
09/01/2022 - 08/31/2024 (Key Person / Mentor)
PI: Nichole Houle
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
5F32DC020627-02

Validation of an Automated Acoustic Outcome Measure for Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia
08/10/2022 - 08/09/2024 (Key Person / Mentor)
PI: Katherine L. Marks Hartigan, PhD
NIH/National Institute on Deafness & Communication Disorders
5F32DC020349-02

Showing 10 of 30 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2025 Comprehensive assessment of speech physiology and acoustics in Parkinson's disease progression 5R01DC020867-03
2025 Effects of exogenous testosterone therapy on communication in gender diverse speakers 5R01DC020061-04
2024 Comprehensive assessment of speech physiology and acoustics in Parkinson's disease progression 5R01DC020867-02
2024 Effects of exogenous testosterone therapy on communication in gender diverse speakers 5R01DC020061-03
2024 Sensorimotor mechanisms of vocal hyperfunction 5P50DC015446-07-6213
2024 Objective Measures for Clinical Assessment of Voice Disorders 5R01DC015570-09
2024 Advanced Research Training in Communication Sciences and Disorders 5T32DC013017-09
2023 Comprehensive assessment of speech physiology and acoustics in Parkinson's disease progression 1R01DC020867-01
2023 Effects of exogenous testosterone therapy on communication in gender diverse speakers 5R01DC020061-02
2023 Boston Speech Motor Control Symposium 5R13DC017674-05
Showing 10 of 35 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Pan AY, Grail GPO, Albert G, Groll MD, Stepp CE, Arnocky SA, Hodges-Simeon CR. What Contributes to Masculine Perception of Voice Among Transmasculine People on Testosterone Therapy? J Voice. 2025 Feb 08. PMID: 39924373
     
  2. Sauder CL, Marks KL, Meyer TK, Giliberto JP, Knutson M, Wilson E, Stepp CE, Eadie TL. Patient-Perceived Vocal Effort Immediately Following Voice Tasks in Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia (ADLD). J Voice. 2024 Dec 05. PMID: 39643552
     
  3. Marks KL, Frankford SA, Cocroft SJ, Lonergan S, Díaz Cádiz ME, Stepp CE. The Prevalence of Creak Across Breath Groups in Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia. J Voice. 2024 Nov 19.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39567268
     
  4. Dahl KL, Balz MA, Cádiz MD, Stepp CE. How to Efficiently Measure the Intelligibility of People With Parkinson's Disease. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2025 Jan 07; 34(1):70-84. PMID: 39475678; PMCID: PMC11745308; DOI: 10.1044/2024_AJSLP-24-00080;
     
  5. Howerton CE, Buckley DP, Dahl KL, Stepp CE. The Effects of Speaker Head Posture on Auditory Perception of Vocal Masculinity. J Voice. 2024 Sep 20.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39306495
     
  6. Frankford SA, Estrada A, Stepp CE. Contributions of Speech Timing and Articulatory Precision to Listener Perceptions of Intelligibility and Naturalness in Parkinson's Disease. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024 Sep 12; 67(9):2951-2963.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39116309; PMCID: PMC11427422; DOI: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00802;
     
  7. Dahl KL, Cádiz MD, Zuk J, Guenther FH, Stepp CE. Controlling Pitch for Prosody: Sensorimotor Adaptation in Linguistically Meaningful Contexts. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024 Feb 12; 67(2):440-454. PMID: 38241671; PMCID: PMC11000799; DOI: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00460;
     
  8. Dragicevic DA, Dahl KL, Perkins Z, Abur D, Stepp CE. Effects of a Concurrent Working Memory Task on Speech Acoustics in Parkinson's Disease. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2024 Jan 03; 33(1):418-434. PMID: 38081054; PMCID: PMC11001185; DOI: 10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00214;
     
  9. Norotsky RL, Dahl KL, Cocroft S, Sauder C, Tracy LF, Stepp CE. Does Implicit Racial Bias Affect Auditory-Perceptual Evaluations of Dysphonic Voices? J Voice. 2023 Dec 07.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38065808; PMCID: PMC11156794; DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.11.023;
     
  10. Kapsner-Smith MR, Abur D, Eadie TL, Stepp CE. Test-Retest Reliability of Behavioral Assays of Feedforward and Feedback Auditory-Motor Control of Voice and Articulation. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024 Jan 08; 67(1):34-48. PMID: 37992404; PMCID: PMC11000789; DOI: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00038;
     
Showing 10 of 150 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 150 publications over 20 distinct years, with a maximum of 17 publications in 2020 and 2021

YearPublications
20051
20071
20081
20092
20107
20118
20126
20139
201411
20155
20166
20179
20185
201913
202017
202117
202213
202312
20246
20251

2015-2020 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award
2014-2017 Boston University: Junior Faculty Fellow, Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science and Engineering
2013-2013 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Award
2013-2013 Boston University: Clinical and Translational Science Institute K-L2 Fellowship
2012-2012 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Award for Early Career Contributions in Research
2012-2015 Boston University: Peter Paul Career Development Professorship
2011-2011 NSF Neural Engineering Travel Award
2009-2009 American Society of Neurorehabilitation (ASNR) Presidential Award
Contact for Mentoring:

635 Commonwealth Ave
Boston MA 02215
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