image of Sarah Poissant

Sarah Poissant

Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

Pediatric audiology, cochlear implants, speech perception

Sarah Poissant is Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. As Associate Vice Provost, Poissant is responsible for departmental Academic Quality Assessment and Development (AQAD) and accreditation processes, new degree program development and support, and faculty affairs and leadership development. She also supports strategic initiatives led by the Executive Deputy Provost. In carrying out her work, Poissant works in close collaboration with campus leaders as well as with the President’s Office, the Board of Trustees, and the Board of Higher Education.

Poissant's scholarly interests include speech perception in cochlear implant recipients and novel approaches to behavioral auditory assessment of very young or otherwise difficult-to-text populations. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Hearing Health Foundation, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation. 

Education

  • PhD, 1999; CCC-A
  • MA, University of Connecticut, 1994
  • BA, University of Vermont, 1992

Key Publications

Helfer, K.S., Poissant, S.F. & Merchant*, G. (2020). Word identification with temporally-interleaved competing sounds by younger and older adult listeners. Ear Hear, 41, 603-614.

Griffin, A.M., Poissant, S.F., & Freyman, R.L. (2020). Auditory Comprehension in School-Aged Children with Normal Hearing and with Unilateral Hearing Loss. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51, 29-41.

Griffin, A.M., Poissant, S.F., & Freyman, R.L. (2019). Speech-in-noise and quality-of-life measures in school-aged children with normal hearing and with unilateral hearing loss. Ear Hear., 40(4), 887-904.

Poissant, S.F., Freyman, R.L., MacDonald, A.J., & Nunes, H.A. (2012). Characteristics of noise exposure during solitary trumpet playing: immediate impact on distortion-product otoacoustic emissions and long-term implications for hearing. Ear Hear., 33, 543-553.

Poissant, S.F., Whitmal III, N.A., & Freyman R.L (2006). Effects of reverberation and masking on speech intelligibility in cochlear implant simulations. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 119, 1606-1615.