Brett, PhD, CCC-SLP
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brett-welch.me
Brett, PhD, CCC-SLP
@brett-welch.me
470 followers 330 following 66 posts
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
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brett-welch.me
I'm very excited to announce that our poster won 2nd place at the Fall Voice Conference this past week! Thank you to Jeffrey Girard, Joel Sprunger, and everyone else on the team for this exciting project! #research #voice #ptsd
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
October 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
brett-welch.me
Interested in a PhD in Communication Sciences & Disorders? Register for our upcoming Virtual Information Session!

Learn more about the University of Houston's PhD program at uh.edu/class/comd/p...
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
September 15, 2025 at 3:23 PM
brett-welch.me
I’m so grateful for my time here at KU’s Department of Psychology!

I’ve been so lucky to meet some amazing colleagues and friends. I’m looking forward to the next chapter and for the inevitable future collaborations ^_^
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
July 18, 2025 at 4:44 PM
brett-welch.me
I'm very excited to officially announce that I'll be joining the University of Houston's Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders' faculty this fall!

What's a piece of advice or wisdom that you were told or wish you had been told going into your first Assistant Professor position? 😅
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.
April 21, 2025 at 3:44 PM
brett-welch.me
🚨Preprint alert!🚨 Integrating Advances in Personality Science to Re-Examine the Trait Theory of Voice Disorders (TTVD)

We re-investigated the TTVD using a five-factor model of personality in pts dx w/ muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) and phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunction (PVH)
osf.io/preprints/os...
Dot and whisker plot displaying group level differences for personality traits
January 15, 2025 at 8:42 PM
brett-welch.me
For a second I thought Pitt was too, but turns out CMU is but I guess a picture of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning was prettier 😂😅
November 22, 2024 at 9:07 PM
brett-welch.me
If you see this, please repost with a favorite photo of the sky that you've taken recently
November 16, 2024 at 5:02 AM
brett-welch.me
Empirically, no

But vibe-wise, sure
November 13, 2024 at 1:57 AM
brett-welch.me
November 13, 2024 at 12:17 AM
brett-welch.me
Same energy tbh
Meme of a drag queen screaming with the caption “SPEECH PROCESSING”
November 11, 2024 at 10:25 PM
brett-welch.me
Asked ChatGPT to use what it knows about me to draw a picture of my life and this is what I got 😅
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
November 11, 2024 at 10:25 PM
brett-welch.me
My puppers likely has degenerative myelopathy, but please enjoy this picture of him in his cute new orange crocs
November 10, 2024 at 5:08 PM
brett-welch.me
That SNL cold open…
November 10, 2024 at 4:43 PM
brett-welch.me
Trying to make the permanent switch to Bluesky
November 10, 2024 at 4:20 PM
brett-welch.me
Dressed up as my favorite linguist for Halloween
Brett taking a mirror selfie wearing an outfit resembling Milo Thatch from the movie Atlantis
October 28, 2024 at 6:22 PM
brett-welch.me
been avoiding social media to focus on writing, but here are my contributions to the latest discourse
November 19, 2023 at 8:26 PM
brett-welch.me
Both fascinated & extremely disturbed by the successful marketing of “alpha” male ideology & merchandise

A guy at the gym wearing a “this is what an alpha looks like” t-shirt

Now, Ms. Thing…

A) if you have to advertise it… real beta behavior

B) toxic masculinity is a prison
Reaction image - Scooby Doo standing on hind legs wearing an orange dress with a disgusted facial expression
October 4, 2023 at 4:43 PM
brett-welch.me
it me 👀🫣

#AcademicSky #PhDSky #memes
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”)
September 30, 2023 at 1:42 PM
brett-welch.me
And I enjoy memes, hiking, cooking, making kombucha, and doing long-form improv
September 29, 2023 at 4:45 PM
brett-welch.me
Let me introduce myself

I'm Brett, a PhD candidate & voice txpist focused on the psych aspects of voice & its disorders- #personality #identity #trauma

My research interests are at the intersection of #PsychSci & voice/communication

I'm looking for a post-doc in quant psych to further my training
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
September 29, 2023 at 4:37 PM
brett-welch.me
My advisor sent me this meme and I had a hearty chuckle

Bluesky needs more memes
#academia #PhDchat
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”
September 28, 2023 at 1:55 AM