Jacqueline Leybaert

Jacqueline Leybaert is a Professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in the Faculty of Psychological and Educational Sciences. She is a leading researcher in the LCLD (Language, Cognition, Learning, and Development) laboratory, focusing on multimodal language perception, particularly in the context of deafness and hearing disabilities. Her work bridges psychology, linguistics, and audiology with significant implications for deaf education and communication strategies.

Her research interests encompass multimodal language perception, audiovisual speech integration, deafness, hearing disabilities, orthographic learning, and numerical cognition. Dr. Leybaert has made substantial contributions to understanding how Cued Speech—a system that uses handshapes near the mouth to disambiguate speech sounds—can enhance language acquisition and speech perception for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Her work explores the cognitive and perceptual mechanisms underlying language development in deaf children, particularly those using cochlear implants or Cued Speech.

Analyzing her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on how multimodal information (auditory, visual, and manual cues) integrates in speech perception, especially in challenging listening conditions. Her research demonstrates how Cued Speech can improve speech recognition in noise, enhance orthographic learning, and support language development in deaf children. The interdisciplinary nature of her work connects cognitive psychology, linguistics, audiology, and educational practices for deaf individuals.

Dr. Leybaert has supervised doctoral students, including Sabatier, E., whose dissertation focused on orthographic representations in deaf children. Her collaborative work extends to researchers such as Cécile Colin, Caron Jirschik, and Vilain, indicating strong research networks in deaf education and speech science. Though specific grant information isn't detailed in the provided text, her extensive publication record suggests significant research funding and project leadership.

Her laboratory work centers on the LCLD lab at ULB, which appears to focus on language development, cognitive processes, and learning mechanisms, particularly in special populations including deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. The lab's research employs various methodologies including behavioral experiments, eye-tracking, and potentially neuroimaging techniques to investigate language processing and development.