Elin Roverud

Elin Roverud is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences at Boston University's Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. With dual expertise in clinical audiology and hearing science research, she investigates how listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss process speech in complex acoustic environments.

Dr. Roverud earned her BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Minnesota (2007), followed by an AuD in Audiology (2011) and PhD in Hearing Science (2014), both from Purdue University. Her educational background provides a strong foundation for bridging clinical practice and scientific research in hearing science.

Her primary research interests focus on selective auditory attention abilities in listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss, and methods for maximizing benefits from auditory training in listeners with hearing impairment. Her work examines how listeners allocate attention to target speech while suppressing competing sounds, how hearing aids affect spatial hearing abilities, and how cross-frequency interactions differ between normal and impaired hearing.

Analysis of her recent publications (2016-2024) reveals consistent focus on speech processing in noise, auditory attention mechanisms, and hearing aid technology evaluation. Her research employs rigorous psychophysical methods to investigate fundamental auditory processes with direct clinical implications for improving communication for people with hearing loss.

Dr. Roverud maintains active collaborations with researchers including Virginia Best, Gerald Kidd Jr., and Sarah Villard, with publications appearing in leading journals such as the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Trends in Hearing, and Ear and Hearing. Her work combines expertise in psychoacoustics, speech perception, and clinical audiology to address complex questions about hearing impairment.

Her research has important implications for developing better hearing aid technologies and auditory training protocols that can improve speech understanding in noise for hearing aid users. By understanding the attentional mechanisms that underlie speech processing in challenging listening environments, her work helps inform the design of more effective interventions for people with hearing loss.