Kenneth Morse, PhD, AuD, CCC-A

Assistant Professor

Organization:

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Department:

Human Performance - Communication Sciences and Disorders

Classification:

Faculty

• PhD, Syracuse University, 2021
• BS, Lafayette College, 2014

Morse, K. V., & Vander Werff, K. R. (2019). Comparison of silent gap in noise cortical auditory evoked potentials in matched tinnitus and no-tinnitus control subjects. American Journal of Audiology, 28(2), 260-273.

Morse, K. V. (2021, April). Tinnitus: Decreased Inhibition and a Hyperactive Auditory System. Guest speaker at Annual Neuroscience Research Day, Syracuse, NY.

Morse, K. V., & Vander Werff, K. R. (2021, February).  Onset-offset cortical auditory evoked potential indices of tinnitus-related excitatory-inhibitory neural plasticity. Poster presented at Association for Research in Otolaryngology Mid-Winter Virtual Meeting. 

Morse, K. V., Akin, F., & Murnane O. (2020, March). Test retest reliability of cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials. Poster presented at American Auditory Society, Scottsdale, AZ.

Morse, K. V., & Vander Werff, K. R. (2017, October). The utility of electrophysiological gap detection to assess if tinnitus masks silent gaps in noise. Poster presented at the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR), Portland, OR.

Morse, K. V., & Vander Werff, K. R. (2017, April). Cortical auditory evoked potentials in tinnitus subjects. Poster session presented at the Annual Neuroscience Research Day, Syracuse, NY.

Morse, K. V., & Vander Werff, K. R. (2017, March). Effect of gap duration on the CAEP in tinnitus subjects. Poster session presented at American Auditory Society, Scottsdale, AZ.

Biography: 

Dr. Morse became a Mountaineer in 2021. At the undergraduate level, he teaches an introductory course to communication sciences and disorders. At the graduate level, he teaches courses related to audiological assessment, intervention, and tinnitus. Dr. Morse’s research focuses on the pathophysiological mechanisms related to tinnitus perception in humans. His clinical work focuses on adult aural rehabilitation, including working with individuals struggling with hearing loss, tinnitus, and related auditory dysfunction. Dr. Morse holds his Certificate of Clinical Competence in audiology (CCC-A) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Teaching:

CSAD200: Introduction to Communication Disorders

CSAD711: Adult Behavioral Assessment

CSAD721: Communication Technology for Adults

CSAD735: Tinnitus

Current Service: Dr. Morse serves as the Coordinator of Audiology Research; he is responsible for mentoring and tracking of graduate audiology student progress in the completion of the culminating research project. Dr. Morse also has served as a reviewer for several audiology journals.

Audiology

The Morse lab studies central auditory nervous system functions underlying auditory disorders (like hearing loss) and auditory processes (like listening effort).

The primary research focus in the Morse lab is studying the pathological mechanisms that contribute to a person’s tinnitus perception, which is an internally generated ringing, roaring, or other sound. Because the auditory mechanisms that cause tinnitus are poorly understood, it is difficult for researchers and healthcare providers to assess a person’s tinnitus, and this limits the effectiveness of tinnitus research and tinnitus healthcare. The long-term goal of our work is to learn more about the pathological mechanisms related to tinnitus and to harness that information to inform more effective tinnitus diagnostics and interventions.

In addition to our efforts studying tinnitus, the Morse lab is also interested in examining the effects of Clear Speech therapy for people with Parkinson Disease on a listener’s auditory discrimination and listening effort. That is, we aim to understand how much clearer and easier it is for a listener to hear an individual’s speech before versus after speech therapy. Our lab is also currently engaged in identifying the magnitude of listening effort associated with perceiving speech in a variety of background noises.

To answer these questions, the Morse lab administers comprehensive auditory test batteries and electrophysiological recordings of brain activity. These assessments are commonly practiced clinical audiological techniques. As such, the Morse lab also serves as a training environment for graduate audiology students who can participate in data collection and, in doing so, hone their clinical skills.

List of Grants

List of Research

Special Training

• Other Speciality Training, Audiology
  Syracuse University, 2016