Beyond Words Ep. 20 | Neural Encoding of Speech: Insights from Aphasia with Dr. Jill Kries

In this episode of Beyond Words, Garrett Oyama speaks with Dr. Jill Kries, cognitive neuroscientist, about how the brain transforms sound into language—and what this reveals about aphasia. They explore how aphasia may involve disruptions not just at the level of words and grammar, but in lower-level speech processing, including phoneme perception and acoustic discrimination. From EEG studies using natural story listening to concepts like lexical entropy, this conversation reframes aphasia as a breakdown across the full speech processing hierarchy.

🎙️ Topics include:

• Low-level auditory and phoneme processing in aphasia

• Neural encoding of speech using EEG

• Lexical entropy and real-time language processing

• Implications for assessment and intervention

• Connections to dyslexia and statistical learning

Learn more about Dr. Jill's work: https://linktr.ee/jillkries

Get ASHA CEUs: https://www.speechtherapypd.com/courses/neural-encoding-of-speech