Brett, PhD, CCC-SLP

@brett-welch.me

494 Followers 354 Following

I study why and how you use your vocal cords • Asst Professor and biostatistician • voice therapist • psych, personality, quant, measurement, communication, and open science enthusiast • radically queer 📍HTX www.brett-welch.me

Best measurement / outcomes science Brett Welch, PhD, CCC-SLP (Podium) – “A critical examination of the psychometric properties of the VHI-10: Are we measuring what we think we’re measuring?”
Me and my PhD advisor in the middle of the rivers on a boat with the Pittsburgh skyline and bridges in the background wearing graduation gowns with her beginning to place the hood over my head
A figure with two panels Top panel: line plot over time with x-axis beginning on January 21 through February 20. The height of the dots correspond to the Number of Correct Password Entries (y-axis), and has an additional line representing a smoothing function over time Bottom panel: A histogram with an overlaid density distribution line to represent the number of correct password entries required, with most of the histogram distribution being between 1-10, with several notable outliers above 15 and all the way to almost 40
Aubrey Plaza in White Lotus looking peeved, captioned "breathes deeply"
Scientific Poster: Acoustic Features of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Non-Voice-Disorder Sample Heading: People with PTSD demonstrate increased vocal hyperfunction (lower H1-H2) and decreased pitch variability compared to people who have experienced a traumatic event but do not have PTSD Background: Experiencing a traumatic event sometimes precedes the onset of primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). However, our clinical understanding of voice-trauma relationship is largely informed by working with patients seeking treatment after they develop a problem with their voice. This study examines the acoustic features of people diagnosed with (n = 52) and without (n = 40) post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), all of whom have experienced a DSM-5 Criterion A traumatic event and are not seeking treatment for problems with their voice. Plot 1) Dot and whisker plot - All participants exhibited lower CPPS during the Impact Statement Plot 2) Dot and whisker plot - People with PTSD demonstrated significantly lower H1-H2 scores compared to controls, especially during the Impact Statement Plot 3) Dot and whisker plot - People with PTSD demonstrated significantly less pitch variability on both tasks compared to controls Methods: Two groups, all of whom experienced a DSM-5 Criterion A traumatic event; n=52 diagnosed with PTSD, n=40 not diagnosed with PTSD Both groups provided two 10-min recording task - 1) trauma account, describing the event in detail; 2) Impact statement, describing how this event has since impacted their life (beliefs, relationships, etc) Audio files were processed and extracted CPPS, H1-H2, & SD pitch Discussion: Although all participants experienced a traumatic event, people with PTSD exhibited lower H1-H2, an acoustic correlate of increased vocal hyperfunction. These findings provide novel insight into a putative pathway from a traumatic event to developing MTD, by way of habituating phonatory behaviors associated with vocal hyperfunction
Flyer, titled - PhD in Communication Sciences & Disorders: Virtual Information Session October 23, 2025, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm uh.edu/class/comd/phd UH logo: Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
A group photo of Brett with colleagues from KU’s Department of Psychology standing in front of some plants and a fence outside at a brewery
University of Houston letterhead April 7, 2025 Brett Welch [redacted address] Dear Brett Welch, Upon the recommendation of the search committee and with the approval of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, I am pleased to offer you a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Houston.
Dot and whisker plot displaying group level differences for personality traits
Meme of a drag queen screaming with the caption “SPEECH PROCESSING”
AI generated image of a messy desk with a laptop open and lines of code (?) with multiple posters saying “SPEECH PROCESSING” and others saying “CPP”, “MFCC” and one about job postings
Brett taking a mirror selfie wearing an outfit resembling Milo Thatch from the movie Atlantis
Reaction image - Scooby Doo standing on hind legs wearing an orange dress with a disgusted facial expression
Meme: two vertical panels Top panel: mom in a swimming pool (labeled “me”) teaching a toddler to swim (labeled “new article idea”) with a second toddler in the forefront visibly struggling to swim/keep their head above water (labeled “old article idea”) Bottom panel: image of a skeleton sitting in a chair at the bottom of a large body of water (labeled “actual article I’m writing”)
Brett and other speech-language pathologist with backs towards camera performing a laryngoscopy on a patient obstructed from view. On the left of the image a display of the patient's vocal folds during the exam
Meme: woman yelling and aggressively pointing at cat with a sour face format with the caption First panel - “My advisor” above woman with speech bubble “that’s a terrible sentence” Next panel - “Me” above the cat with speech bubble “you wrote that sentence”