Eric J. Hunter Ph.D.

At Michigan State University, Eric Hunter currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, with a home appointment of professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders.  He is also the Director of the Trifecta Initiative for Interdisciplinary Health Research (a joint research initiative of the College of Engineering, College of Nursing, and the College of Communication Arts & Sciences). For the last 15 years, Dr. Hunter has researched occupational voice use, particularly examining voice disorders in elementary and secondary school teachers. 

In addition to occupational voice use, Hunter’s research interests also include signal processing, biomechanics of speech articulators and biomechanical models of the vocal system, and muscle mechanics and muscle models. Broader academic interests include recording techniques, speech perception, musical acoustics and machine recognition of speech. Dr. Hunter has published more than 90 papers and book chapters and has been a part of more than 250 presentations. His expertise on the vocal health of teachers and the aging voice has been consulted in newspaper and television interviews across the United States and Asia, including The New York Times and MSNBC.

Dr. Hunter earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Brigham Young University, with an emphasis in acoustics and vibration. His master’s thesis, which focused on designing and testing computer-generated visual aids, shifted his interest from general acoustics to speech acoustics. He completed his training in the area of speech science and received his doctorate from the University of Iowa. His dissertation topic used continuum mechanics to model vocal fold posturing.

He loves his role as husband to an incredible wife and teller of dad jokes to his three teenage children.

Assoc. Dean for Research, College of Communication Arts & Sciences;
Director of the Trifecta Initiative, College of Nursing, College of Engineering, College of Communication Arts & Sciences

Voice Disorders, Occupational Voice Risks, Biomechanical Modeling, Research Recording Techniques

Thematic Research Areas

Computational Communication
Neurocognitive Communication

Research Centers and Labs

Voice Biomechanics and Acoustics Laboratory
Health and Risk Communication Center