Giovanni Baattistella

The goal of my research is to understand the neural basis of voice and hearing disorders, including laryngeal dystonia, Parkinson's disease, and tinnitus, as well as the brain networks that govern typical speech production, how they change across ages and sexes, and how they change after voice therapy and laryngeal surgery in transgender individuals.

I focus on several key areas. In Parkinson’s disease (PD), I study the effect of professional singing on the progression of voice symptoms and neural network organization. Given their precise control over their own voices, professional singers represent the ideal group for isolating the neural mechanisms of speech motor control altered in PD. By utilizing a novel experimental design of brain MRI and real-time MRI of the vocal tract during singing, the research will be able to link articulation with brain organization. In dystonia and tinnitus, I aim to provide a fine-grained description of cerebral architecture underlying the disorders' pathogeneses and risk factors, work that lays the groundwork for new diagnostic and treatment targets. In transgender individuals, I explore how the brain networks controlling voice respond to voice feminization therapies, identifying imaging markers of successful therapeutic outcomes. Lastly, I study the brain organization that controls speaking across ages and sexes in healthy individuals, providing the mechanistic foundation for understanding the divergent epidemiological profiles of speech motor disorders.

To address these questions, I use high-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetoencephalography, dynamic real-time imaging of the vocal tract during speech, and machine learning. The ultimate goal of my research is to develop novel therapeutics supported by imaging signatures of these conditions.