Panying Rong

Panying Rong
  • Ph.D.
  • Associate Professor
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies
  • Honors & Research Coordinator
  • Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences & Disorders

Contact Info

Biography —

Dr. Rong is an assistant professor who joined the faculty of the University of Kansas in 2016. Her research focuses on acquired motor speech disorders, speech motor control, speech acoustics and physiology, and computational modeling of normal and disordered speech. Her work was supported by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation. Her research has been published in national and international journals including Journal of Speech-Language-Hearing Science, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Behavioural Neurology, PLoS ONE, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration. She teaches courses on neuroscience and communication disorders. She is also the director of the Speech Science and Disorders Lab.

Research —

Research interests:

  • Motor speech disorders
  • Speech motor control
  • Speech acoustics and physiology
  • Computational modeling of speech

Teaching —

Teaching interests:

  • The Communicating Brain
  • Survey of Communication Disorders

Selected Publications —

Rong, P., Hansen, O., Heidrick, L. (2022). Relationship between rate-elicited changes in muscular-kinematic control strategies and acoustic performance in individuals with ALS – A multimodal investigation. Journal of Communication Disorders - Volume 99. https://doi.org/doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2022.106253.
Rong, P., Yunusova, Y., Richburg, B., Green, J. (2018). Automatic extraction of abnormal lip movement features from the alternating motion rate task in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology - Issue 6 | Volume 20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2018.1485739.
Shellikeri, S., Green, J., Kulkarni, M., Rong, P., Martino, R., Zinman, L., Yunusova, Y. (2016). Speech Movement Measures as Markers of Bulbar Disease in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research - Issue 5 | Volume 59. https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_JSLHR-S-15-0238.
Rong, P., Kuehn, D., Shosted, R. (2016). Modeling of oropharyngeal articulatory adaptation to compensate for the acoustic effects of nasalization. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America - Issue 3 | Volume 140. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4963065.
Rong, P., Yunusova, Y., Wang, J., Zinman, L., Pattee, G., Berry, J., Perry, B., Green, J. (2016). Predicting Speech Intelligibility Decline in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Based on the Deterioration of Individual Speech Subsystems. PLoS ONE - Issue 5 | Volume 11. https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0154971.
Wang, J., Samal, A., Rong, P., Green, J. (2016). An Optimal Set of Flesh Points on Tongue and Lips for Speech-Movement Classification. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research - Issue 1 | Volume 59. https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_JSLHR-S-14-0112.
Rong, P., Yunusova, Y., Green, J. (2016). Differential effects of velopharyngeal dysfunction on speech intelligibility during early and late stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Interspeech-2016 - Pages DOI: 10.21437/Interspeech.-1524.
Iuzzini-Seigel, J., Hogan, T., Rong, P., Green, J. (2015). Longitudinal Development of Speech Motor Control: Motor and Linguistic Factors. Journal of Motor Learning and Development - Issue 1 | Volume 3. https://doi.org/10.1123/JMLD.2014-0054.
Rong, P., Yunusova, Y., Wang, J., Green, J. (2015). Predicting Early Bulbar Decline in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Speech Subsystem Approach. Behavioural Neurology - Volume 2015. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/183027.
Rong, P., Yunusova, Y., Green, J. (2015). Speech intelligibility decline in individuals with fast and slow rates of ALS progression. Interspeech-2015.
Rong, P., Yunusova, Y., Berry, J., Zinman, L., Green, J. (2014). Parameterization of articulatory pattern in speakers with ALS. Interspeech-2014, 711-714.
Rong, P., Kuehn, D. (2012). The Effect of Articulatory Adjustment on Reducing Hypernasality. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research - Issue 5 | Volume 55. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2012/11-0142).
Rong, P., Loucks, T., Kim, H., Hasegawa-Johnson, M. (2012). Relationship between kinematics, F2 slope and speech intelligibility in dysarthria due to cerebral palsy. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics - Issue 9 | Volume 26. https://doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2012.706686.
Shosted, R., Carignan, C., Rong, P. (2012). Managing the distinctiveness of phonemic nasal vowels: Articulatory evidence from Hindi. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America - Issue 1 | Volume 131. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3665998.
Rong, P., Shosted, R., Kuehn, D. (2012). Articulatory differences between oral and nasal vowels based on the simulation of a speaker-adaptive articulatory model. Interspeech-2012, 2698-2701.
Carignan, C., Shosted, R., Shih, C., Rong, P. (2011). Compensatory articulation in American English nasalized vowels. Journal of Phonetics - Issue 4 | Volume 39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2011.07.005.
Shosted, R., Carignan, C., Rong, P., Ostry, D., Baum, S., MéNard, L., Gracco, V. (2011). Estimating vertical larynx position with EMA. Proceedings of the 9th International Seminar on Speech Production, 139–146.
Rong, P., Shosted, R., Carignan, C., Ostry, D., Baum, S., MéNard, L., Gracco, V. (2011). The relationship between velopharyngeal opening and place of articulation: An aerodynamic and EPG investigation. Proceedings of the 9th International Seminar on Speech Production, 281–288.
Rong, P., Kuehn, D. (2010). The effect of oral articulation on the acoustic characteristics of nasalized vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America - Issue 4 | Volume 127. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3294486.
Kim, H., Rong, P., Loucks, T., Hasegawa-Johnson, M. (2010). Kinematic Analysis of Tongue Movement Control in Spastic Dysarthria. InterSpeech-2010, 2578-2581.
Rong, P., Heidrick, L. Dysarthria in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Oxford Handbook of Communication Disorders in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Oxford University Press.

Selected Presentations —

Early stratification of fast and slow progressors of bulbar ALS based on a diadochokinetic task - Annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Location: Boston, MA. (11-01-2018).
The effect of spatial tongue-jaw coupling on acoustic vowel contrast in ALS - Annual meeting of the Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Location: Boston, MA. (11-01-2018).
Predicting disease-related changes in jaw contribution to tongue movement in ALS based on a diadochokinetic task - 2018 Motor Speech Conference. Location: Savannah, GA. (2-01-2018).
Using oropharyngeal articulation to compensate for nasalization: Acoustic and perceptual evidence - 174th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Location: New Orleans, LA. (12-01-2017).
Toward a diagnostic tool for assessing articulatory involvement in ALS - 7th International Conference on Speech Motor Control. Location: Groningen, the Netherlands. (1-01-2017).
Automatic extraction of abnormal speech movement features in ALS from an oral diadochokinetic task - Annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Location: Los Angeles, CA. (11-01-2017).
Predicting speech intelligibility based on tongue-jaw coordination in persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Location: Los Angeles, CA. (11-01-2017).
Quantitative speech motor markers of bulbar involvement in ALS - Annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Location: Los Angeles, CA. (11-01-2017).
Predicting speech intelligibility based on tongue-jaw coupling in persons with ALS - 7th International Conference on Speech Motor Control. Location: Groningen, the Netherlands. (7-01-2017).
Differential effects of velopharyngeal dysfunction on speech intelligibility decline during early and late stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Location: Philadelphia. (12-31-2016).
Differential effects of velopharyngeal dysfunction on speech intelligibility during early and late stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - 17th Annual Conference of International Speech Communication Association. Location: San Francisco. (12-31-2016).
Speech intelligibility decline in individuals with fast and slow progression rates of bulbar ALS - Annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Location: Denver, CO. (1-01-2015).

Awards & Honors —

<div class="fp-award fp-container"><div class="aca-award">Meritorious Poster. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Received: 11-15-2018.</div><div class="aca-award">Meritorious Poster. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Received: 1-01-2019.</div><div class="aca-award">New Faculty General Research Fund Award. University of Kansas. Received: 1-29-2020.</div><div class="aca-award">ASHA Lessons for Success Research Conference Fellowship. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Received: 4-25-2018.</div></div>