People who have a stroke or traumatic brain injury sometimes experience aphasia, a disorder that affects a person’s ability to express or understand language.

Research by Northeastern University assistant professor Erin Meier aims to better comprehend how people with aphasia use language in their daily lives. 

“I’m really interested in how people with aphasia are actually using language in the real world, and how their recovery affects their ability to communicate in real world environments,” says Meier, who is director of the Aphasia Network Lab at Northeastern. 

Meier has received a prestigious national research award in recognition of her work in language and cognitive recovery after stroke.

Meier, an assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders at the Bouve College of Health Sciences, received an Early Career Contributions in Research Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association—a national professional, scientific and credentialing association. 

The award honors researchers who are within five years of receiving their terminal degree or completing postdoctoral work. Meier will accept the award at the association’s annual meeting, which is held in Boston this year.

Meier’s research stems from her time as a speech pathologist at an outpatient day therapy program where she focused on stroke survivors, traumatic brain injury survivors as well as people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, many of whom had aphasia. Aphasia is a disorder that affects a person’s ability to express and understand written and verbal language and often occurs after a stroke or brain injury.

Meier explains that typical aphasia research is done in a lab with tests—often written—asking patients to identify pictures of objects. But people with aphasia often experience what Meier describes as “extreme tip-of-the-tongue,” where they understand what an object is, recognize it, but just can’t think of the name of it.

Moreover, Meier says there is “just so much variability in how people respond to therapy,” particularly depending on the setting.

“Some (of the patients in the day therapy) would do great in the clinic, and then completely break down in a real-world setting,” Meier says. 

So, Meier is embarking on three research projects that moves aphasia research from the lab to the real world.