Ep. 23: A Conversation with Julie Liss and Visar Berisha on How AI is Shaping Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology

Julie M. Liss, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Senior Associate Dean in the College of Health Solutions and Professor of Speech and Hearing Science at Arizona State University. A certified speech-language pathologist, she is internationally recognized for advancing the use of artificial intelligence in speech-language pathology. Her work has focused on transforming clinical speech science into digital tools that can detect and track neurological disease, expand access to care, and support more precise clinical decision-making. As co-founder of Aural Analytics, Dr. Liss has helped pioneer speech-based biomarkers and AI-driven assessment platforms now in use around the world. She is also a thought leader in promoting the ethical and responsible application of AI in healthcare and scientific publishing. Beyond her research and innovation, Dr. Liss has served in key leadership roles with ASHA, including as Editor-in-Chief and now Chair of the ASHA Journals Board, where she is helping shape policy around emerging technologies in scholarly communication. In recognition of her impact on the profession and her leadership at the intersection of speech science and technology, Dr. Liss is receiving Honors of the Association from ASHA in 2025. Visar Berisha, Ph.D., is a Professor at Arizona State University with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering and the College of Health Solutions and Associate Dean for Research Commercialization in the College of Engineering. His main research interests reside at the intersection of AI and the human voice. He has developed and commercialized new speech AI models for healthcare. This work is primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation. This work has led to many academic publications, several patents, and two companies. Dr. Berisha's work has been featured in the New York Times, on ESPN, National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, and a number of other international media outlets. He was the 2023-2024 ISCA Distinguished Lecturer. References: Berisha, V., & Liss, J. M. (2024). Responsible development of clinical speech AI: Bridging the gap between clinical research and technology. npj Digital Medicine, 7, Article 208. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01199-1 Liss, J., & Berisha, V. (2024). Operationalizing clinical speech analytics: Moving from features to measures for real-world clinical impact. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 67(11), 4226-4232. Liss, J., & Berisha, V. (2020, August). How will artificial intelligence reshape speech-language pathology services and practice in the future? ASHA Journals Academy. https://academy.pubs.asha.org/2020/08/how-will-artificial-intelligence-reshape-speech-language-pathology-services-and-practice-in-the-future/ Xu, L., Chen, K., Mueller, K. D., Liss, J., & Berisha, V. (2025). Articulatory precision from connected speech as a marker of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease risk-enriched cohorts. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 103(2), 476-486. Yeo, E., Liss, J., Berisha, V., & Mortensen, D. (2025). Applications of Artificial Intelligence for Cross-language Intelligibility Assessment of Dysarthric Speech. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.15858