Kirsten Leffingwell is an undergraduate research assistant and Cooper Fellow who has nearly three years of clinical experience as an Audiology Technician and serves as the 26-27 New Jersey AuD Student State Officer for NSSLHA. Her studies at Rutgers include Speech and Hearing Sciences in Linguistics, Psychology, and Cognitive Science. Her research interests include discovering the ways in which the neural signals that give rise to the Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) may strengthen our understanding of the connection between hearing loss and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) as well as Central Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPD). After completing her senior honors thesis and upon graduation, Kirsten will attend a graduate program to obtain her clinical doctorate in audiology (Au.D).
To Kirsten, sound is information, memory, learning, emotion, and it’s also one of the coolest things our brain can do.