Brooke Merritt

Dr. Brooke Merritt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Her research focuses on communication sciences and disorders through a gender-equitable lens, with two primary goals: understanding factors influencing listeners’ attribution of vocal gender across languages (English/Spanish) and examining how perceived gender impacts trustworthiness, communication competence, and listener adaptability. Her work aims to develop culturally sensitive voice therapy interventions and clarify listener characteristics that enhance speaker adaptation.

Dr. Merritt co-created an interdisciplinary health education program addressing health inequities for transgender individuals at the U.S./Mexico border, collaborating with faculty from Pharmacy, Public Health, Social Work, and her own department. This initiative reflects her commitment to community-engaged scholarship and health disparities research.

Her research spans speech acoustics, phonetics, and gender diversity in speech science, with a focus on transgender and non-binary voices. Recent studies analyze fundamental frequency patterns in bilingual speakers, perceptual classification of gender-diverse voices, and acoustic-phonetic features influencing gender perception. She actively advocates for inclusive gender identity measurement in clinical and academic settings.

Dr. Merritt's work bridges multiple disciplines, emphasizing methodological diversity in research participant representation. She has systematically reviewed demographic diversity in communication sciences literature, revealing gaps in gender, race, and ethnicity representation. Her pedagogical contributions include integrating gender-expansive perspectives into speech science curricula.