Director
 Dr. Jennifer Tufts is a professor of audiology in the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department at the University of Connecticut. She is a past president of the National Hearing Conservation Association and a past recipient of both the NHCA Outstanding Lecture Award (2014) and the NHCA Outstanding Poster Award (2010). Her research interests include hearing protection and enhancement devices, auditory fitness for duty, and music perception. Her research has been funded by the American Hearing Research Foundation, the Department of Defense, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and Phonak Communications AG. Dr. Tufts is a licensed audiologist in the state of CT and a CAOHC-certified Professional Supervisor. |
Contact:Jennifer Tufts, Ph.D., CCC-A University of Connecticut Department of SLHS 2 Alethia Drive., Unit 1085 Storrs, CT 06269 USA jennifer.tufts@uconn.edu Phone: 860-486-4082 Fax: 860-486-5422 |
Current Au.D. students
| Jacqueline DiFrancesco (dual-degree Au.D./Ph.D.) |
| Paige Kingsley |
| Erin McGrail |
| Shannon O’Rourke |
| Adam Zhitomi |
Current projects
- Development of a portable auditory situation awareness training facility for military service members (funding source: Department of Defense/Creare LLC)
- Development of a wireless integrated hearing protection fit-testing system (funding source: NIH/Creare LLC)
- Development of a military-specific sound recognition test (funding source: Department of Defense/Creare LLC)
- Characterization of noise exposure in college students and associated biomarkers of subclinical hearing loss (funding source: American Hearing Research Foundation)
Publications and proceedings
Tufts, J.B., & Berger, E.H. (in press). Hearing is priceless. Chapter 1 in Meinke, D.K., Berger, E.H., Neitzel, R., & Driscoll, D.P. (eds.). Noise Manual, 6th ed. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Tufts, J.B., & Casali, J.G. (in press). Auditory situation awareness and speech communication in noise. Chapter 18 in Meinke, D.K., Berger, E.H., Neitzel, R., & Driscoll, D.P. (eds.). Noise Manual, 6th ed. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Camera, S., Tufts, J.B., & Skoe, E. (in press). Noise exposure and background noise tolerance in listeners with normal audiograms. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
Skoe, E., Camera, S., & Tufts, J.B. (2019). Noise exposure may diminish the musician advantage for perceiving speech in noise. Ear and Hearing, published ahead of print on Oct. 17, 2018, doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000665. PDF
DiFrancesco, J., & Tufts, J.B. (October 2018). Today’s hearing technologies: Definitions, regulations, overlaps. Hearing Journal, 71(10), 46, 48-51. PDF
Skoe, E., & Tufts, J.B. (2018). Evidence of noise-induced subclinical hearing loss using auditory brainstem response and objective measures of noise exposure in humans. Hearing Research, 361, 80-91. PDF
Tufts, J.B., & Skoe, E. (2018). Examining the noisy life of the college musician: Weeklong noise dosimetry of music and non-music activities. International Journal of Audiology, 57, Sup. 1, 20-27. PDF
Sheffield, B., Brungart, D., Tufts, J.B., & Ness, J. (2017). The effects of elevated hearing thresholds on performance in a paintball simulation of individual dismounted combat. International Journal of Audiology, 56, Sup. 1, 34-40. PDF
Sheffield, B., Brungart, D., Tufts, J., & Ness, J. (2015). The relationship between hearing acuity and operational performance in dismounted combat. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 59(1), 1346-1350.
Brammer, A., Yu, G., Bernstein, E., Cherniack, M., Peterson, D., & Tufts, J.B. (2014). Understanding speech when wearing communication headsets and hearing protectors with subband processing. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 136, 671-681. PDF
Tufts, J.B., Chen, S., & Marshall, L. (2013). Attenuation as a function of the canal length of custom-molded earplugs: A pilot study. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(6), EL446-EL451. PDF
Tufts, J.B. (2012). For those about to rock. Perspectives on Public Health Issues Related to Hearing and Balance, 13(1), 29-35. Click here
Tufts, J.B., Jahn, K., & Byram, J. (2012). Consistency of attenuation across multiple fittings of custom and non-custom earplugs. Annals of Occupational Hygiene; doi: 10.1093/annhyg/mes096. PDF
Tufts, J.B., Palmer, J.V., & Marshall, L. (2012). Measurements of earplug attenuation under supra-aural and circumaural headphones. International Journal of Audiology, 51(10), 730-738. PDF
Tufts, J.B., Hamilton, M.A, Ucci, A.J, & Rubas, J. (2011). Evaluation by industrial workers of passive and level-dependent hearing protection devices. Noise and Health, 13(50), 26-36. PDF
Byrne, D.C., Michael, K.L., & Tufts, J.B. (2011). Industrial noise and hearing conservation. Chapter 34 in Rose, V.E., & Cohrssen, B. (eds.) Patty’s Industrial Hygiene, 6th ed., vol. 3: Physical and biological agents. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Brammer, A.J., Yu, G., Bernstein, E.R., Cherniack, M.G., Tufts, J.B., and Peterson, D.R. (2011). Intelligibility of speech corrupted by nonlinear distortion. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on the Biological Effects of Noise as a Public Health Problem, London, UK, pp. 287-292.
Tufts, J.B. (2010). How well must you hear…to be safe? Spectrum, 27(2), 1, 6-7.
Tufts, J.B., Weathersby, P.K, & Rodriguez, F. (2010). Modeling the United States government’s economic cost of noise-induced hearing loss for a military population. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment, and Health, 36(3), 242-249. PDF
Tufts, J.B., Vasil, K., & Briggs, S. (2009). Auditory fitness for duty: A review. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 20, 539-557. PDF
- Chosen for inclusion in The Hearing Journal’s Best of 2009: Diagnostic Audiology.
- Synopses published by French trade journals Audio infos and Audiology infos.
Chung, K., Tufts, J.B., & Nelson, L. (2009). Modulation-based digital noise reduction for application to hearing protectors to reduce noise and maintain intelligibility. Human Factors, 51(1), 78-89. PDF
Tufts, J.B., Weathersby, P.K., & Marshall, L. (2009). Estimation of equivalent noise exposure level using hearing threshold levels of a population.Ear and Hearing, 30(2), 287-290. PDF
- Chosen for inclusion in The Hearing Journal’s Best of 2009: Diagnostic Audiology.
Brammer, A.J., Yu, G., Bernstein, E.R., Peterson, D.R., Cherniack, M.G., & Tufts, J.B. (2009). Monitoring sound pressure at the eardrum for hearing conservation. Canadian Acoustics, 37(3), 108‑109.
Brammer, A.J., Yu, G., Bernstein, E.R., Peterson, D.R., Cherniack, M.G., & Tufts, J.B. (2009). Field measurement of sound pressure at the eardrum. Inter-Noise 2009, Institute of Noise Control Engineering, Ames, IA, 1-7.
Leek, M.R., Molis, M.R., Kubli, L.R., & Tufts, J.B. (2008). Enjoyment of music by elderly hearing-impaired listeners. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 19, 519-526. PDF
Tufts, J.B., & Weathersby, P.K. (2008). User-friendly parameterization of an unscreened population dataset for the prediction of noise-related and age-related hearing threshold shifts. Proceedings of the 9th Congress of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise as a Public Health Problem, IfADo, Dortmund, Germany, 138.
Tufts, J.B., & Molis, M.R. (2007). Roughness perception in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121(4), EL161-EL167. PDF
Geiger, M., Tufts, J.B., Weathersby, P., & Marshall, L. (2007). A tool for quantifying noise hazard risk in system safety analysis. Proceedings of the 25th International System Safety Conference, System Safety Society, Unionville, VA, 1-10.
Tufts, J.B., Weathersby, P.K., Marshall, L. & Sachs, F. (2007). Model for estimating noise-induced hearing loss associated with occupational noise exposure in a specified U.S. Navy population. Technical Report No. 1247. Groton, CT: Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory.
Sachs, F., Weathersby, P.K., Marshall, L. & Tufts, J.B. (2007). Model for estimating life-cycle costs associated with noise-induced hearing loss. Technical Report No. 1248. Groton, CT: Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory.
Grant, K.W., Tufts, J.B., & Greenberg, S. (2007). Integration efficiency within and across sensory modalities by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired individuals. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121(2), 1164-1176. PDF
Tufts, J.B., Molis, M.R., & Leek, M.R. (2005). Perception of dissonance by people with normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 118(2), 955-967. PDF
Tufts, J.B., & Frank, T. (2003). Speech production in noise with and without hearing protection. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 114(3), 1069-1081. PDF
Tufts, J.B. (2003). The effects of hearing protectors on speech. Update: Newsletter of the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation, 15(3), 3, 10.
Tufts, J.B., & Frank, T. (2000). Permissible noise levels in audiometric test rooms. Update: Newsletter of the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation, 11(1), 1, 6.