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Rajka Smiljanic is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on understanding role variation, intelligibility, perceptual processes, word recognition, noise, speech segmentation, memory recognition, listening effort, and learning. She investigates sources of intelligibility variation arising from talker, listener, and signal characteristics. Her work aims to understand the perceptual, linguistic, cognitive, and neurophysiological consequences of variation in speech. Rajka systematically explores the interaction between low-level signal-dependent factors and signal-independent cognitive factors in the production and perception of intelligible speech. Throughout her career, she has employed experimental phonetics, speech science, and psycholinguistics, collaborating with diverse talker and listener populations, including non-native speakers and individuals with hearing loss. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and Russian Languages and Literatures from the University of Zagreb in Croatia, an MA, and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Additionally, she has conducted postdoctoral research in the Linguistics Department at Northwestern University. In recognition of her contributions, she was elected as a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America in 2018 and received the Raymond Dickson Centennial Endowed Teaching Fellowship award for the 2023-2024 academic year.
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