Orhun successfully defends his PhD

On October 17, 2025, Orhun successfully defended his PhD thesis in the Aula and was awarded the title of doctor. Congratulations to Dr. Uluşahin!

Voices in our heads

Orhun’s thesis is entitled “Voices in our heads: Talker-specific listening and speaking”. It describes several studies around the topic of how listeners learn about the way a talker speaks and how this knowledge subsequently changes how they listen, and even how they speak themselves. To give just one example: listening to a particularly high-pitched talker for ca. 20 minutes can change your perception of that talker’s /s-ʃ/ distinction.

Several SPEAC members celebrated this happy event together with Orhun, with some even joining from abroad through the live stream. It’s been an honor to have been part of Orhun’s PhD project as supervisor, together with Prof. James McQueen (promotor) and Prof. Antje Meyer (promotor). But then again, this is no goodbye event; Orhun’s just across the hallway, having taken up a postdoc position at the DCC.

Read his book!

Interested? Read his thesis here: https://hdl.handle.net/2066/324252