Bharath Chandrasekaran

Bharath Chandrasekaran serves as the Ralph and Jean Sundin Endowed Professor and Chair of the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University's School of Communication. His research investigates the neural basis of human communication and brain plasticity through multimodal neuroimaging, behavioral experiments, and computational modeling.

His academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. in Integrative Neuroscience from Purdue University
• M.S. in Speech Sciences from Purdue University
• Bachelor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from Sri Ramachandra University

Dr. Chandrasekaran employs a systems neuroscience approach to study auditory signal processing (particularly speech and music), focusing on computational mechanisms, maturational constraints, and neural plasticity. His work bridges communication sciences, linguistics, psychology, engineering, and otolaryngology to decode how the brain represents sounds and maps them to behavioral outcomes. This interdisciplinary research utilizes cutting-edge neuroimaging and modeling techniques to achieve implementation-level understanding of auditory cognition.

He holds the prestigious Ralph and Jean Sundin Endowed Professorship. His research program receives substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF).

Dr. Chandrasekaran directs the SoundBrain Laboratory, which pioneers collaborative research on human communication neuroscience. The lab integrates diverse expertise to explore brain plasticity mechanisms and develop translational applications for communication disorders.