Bonnie K. Lau, PhD
The goal of my research is to understand how the auditory brain develops and how we can use this information to optimize hearing and communication for all individuals. It is a true privilege to work in a community where families actively contribute to the advancement of science and clinical practice through their participation in research. My research is only possible because of our dedicated participants.
Biography
Bonnie K. Lau, Ph.D., joined the department as a research assistant professor in 2020. Dr. Lau completed her doctoral degree at the University of Washington where she studied the development of the human auditory system under the mentorship of Dr. Lynne Werner. She continued on to the University of Minnesota to obtain further training in psychoacoustics and electroencephalography (EEG) under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Oxenham. She then returned to the Institute of Language and Brain Sciences in Seattle to explore ways of combining neurophysiological measures such as EEG, magnetoencephalography (MEG) and pupillometry to compliment behavioral data under the mentorship of Drs. Adrian KC Lee, Samu Taulu, and Patricia Kuhl. During this time, Dr. Lau also worked closely with Drs. Stephen Dager and Annette Estes and the UW Autism Center to investigate auditory processing in individuals with autism.
In 2017, Dr. Lau received a National Institute of Health Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) to conduct a longitudinal study investigating how the cortical processing of speech develops over the first year of life in normal hearing and hard-of-hearing infants using MEG and standardized clinical measures of development.
Prior to her research training, Dr. Lau obtained an undergraduate degree in linguistics and speech science followed by clinical training in speech-language pathology. Dr. Lau has spent time working as a speech-language pathologist in pediatric hospitals in the United States and Canada as well as Uganda, Swaziland, and Bolivia – experiences that have shaped both her clinical and research interests. In her spare time, Dr. Lau enjoys snowboarding and rock climbing.
Current CV
Overview
Undergraduate Education: University of British Columbia, 2004
Graduate Education: Northwestern University, M.A., Speech-Language Pathology, 2006; University of Washington, Ph.D., Speech and Hearing Science, 2014
Fellowship: University of Minnesota, 2014-2015; UW Institute for Language and Brain Sciences, 2015-2020
Professional Certification: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Speech and Audiology Canada
Memberships: Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Acoustical Society of America
Awards and Honors
2022 - UW School of Medicine Outstanding Research Mentor Award
NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
Clinical Interests
Hearing loss, cochlear implants, early intervention, autism spectrum disorder
Recent Publications
Research Areas
Research Focus
Dr. Lau’s research combines brain and behavioral measures to investigate the relationship between how hearing develops and how language is acquired. One goal of her research is to develop objective measures that can be used in clinical practice to help better identify children who are at risk for language learning difficulties and to guide the personalization of treatment for each individual child.