Sarah is an active researcher in the field of voice science and applications in clinical voice rehabilitation. 

Sarah collaborates extensively with the team at the Sean Parker Institute for the Voice (Dr. Anais Rameau, Dr. James Curtis, Dr. Lucian Sulica, Dr. Babak Sadoughi, and Dr. Christine Clark) as well as pursuing cross-institution collaborations through Dr. Aaron Johnson’s Lab at New York University Langone Health and with clinical researchers at the University of Illinois, Mass Eye & Ear Infirmary, and University of South Florida. Sarah also continues to work with singing pedagogue-researchers and strongly believes in the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to foster clinical and real-world applications of research findings. 

Her research areas include: 

• the effects of sex hormones on vocal behavior, vocal fold morphology, and laryngeal muscle function as it translates to clinical voice care and voice training paradigms

• portable laryngeal imaging technology

• clinical applications of vocal distortion/rough vocal effects

• clinical terminology use in voice therapy

• the physiology, perception, acoustic characteristics, and pedagogical landscape of the literature on belting

• pitch perception and intonation in performance environments

• the use of VR to train generalization for gigging singers in voice therapy

PUBLICATIONS

Kervin, S.R., Mahalingham, S., Aviles, C., & Titze, I. (2024). Chapter 9: Hormone Upregulation and the Voice [book chapter]. In: Vocalization for General Health. Project sponsored by the Pan American Vocology Association. National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS): Clearfield, UT. (In press)

Kervin, S. R., Harris, K. J., Urbano, M., & Curtis, J. A. (2024). The Relationship Between Speech-Language Pathologists' Perceptions of Clinical Terminology and Its Use in Voice Therapy with Adults. Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation, S0892-1997(24)00241-8. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2024.07.030 

Kervin S. R. (2023). The Key to Singing Off-Key: The Trained Singer and Pitch Perception Distortion. Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation, S0892-1997(22)00417-9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.12.016