Nicholas Bamshad Aoki

Nicholas Aoki - Headshot

PhD Candidate

Kerr 261
Office Hours
Please e-mail me for the current quarter's office hours!

About

I am a PhD candidate in Linguistics working at the Phonetics Lab with Dr. Georgia Zellou. My updated CV is available on my website.

I am passionate about teaching! Please click here to learn more about my teaching philosophy, here to view some of my sample presentation slides, and here to read some sample evaluations.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, I was a co-chair of the Cluster on Language Research, which hosts biweekly talks and an annual conference. The theme of our conference was "The Intersection Between Language and Technology" - click here to access the program!

Education and Degree(s)
  • M.A., Digital Studies of Language, Culture, and History, University of Chicago, 2021
  • B.A., Linguistics (Minor in Statistics), University of Chicago, 2021 (Phi Beta Kappa, Student Marshal, Summa Cum Laude)
Honors and Awards
  • Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Summer Institute Fellowship, UC Davis Department of Linguistics, 2025
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, UC Davis, 2025 [Nominee]
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, UC Davis, 2024 [Nominee]
  • Phi Kappa Phi, UC Davis, 2024
  • Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics Student Paper Competition Winner ($300), Acoustical Society of America, 2023
  • "Down Under Funder" Travel Grant ($1000), Acoustical Society of America, 2023
  • Steven Lapointe Award ($850), UC Davis Department of Linguistics, 2023
  • Student Award (£600), International Phonetic Association, 2023
  • Travel Award ($250), UC Davis Graduate Student Association, 2022
  • Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship ($48,900), UC Davis, 2022-2023
  • Provost's Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences ($59,802), UC Davis, 2021-2022
  • Latin Honors (summa cum laude), University of Chicago, 2021
  • Leonard Bloomfield Prize in Linguistics, University of Chicago, 2021
  • Phi Beta Kappa (Early Induction), University of Chicago, 2020
  • Student Marshal, University of Chicago, 2020
  • College Summer Research Fellow ($5,000), University of Chicago, 2020
  • College Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities Scholar ($5,000), University of Chicago, 2020
  • Jeff Metcalf Internship, University of Chicago, 2020
  • Dean's Fund for Undergraduate Research Award ($1,271), University of Chicago, 2019
  • Liew Family College Research Fellow ($1,000), University of Chicago, 2019
  • Dean's List, University of Chicago, 2017-2021
  • National Merit Scholar, University of Chicago ($8,000), 2017-2021
Courses
  • LIN 171 (Introduction to Psycholinguistics) - Teaching Assistant - Winter 2024, Spring 2025
  • LIN 103A (Linguistic Analysis I: Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology) - Teaching Assistant - Fall 2024
  • LIN 001/001Y (Introduction to Linguistics) - Teaching Assistant - Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Summer Session I 2024, Summer Session II 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Phonetics/Phonology
  • Speech Perception
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Sociolinguistics
  • Human-Computer Interaction
Publications
  • Nicholas B. Aoki and Georgia Zellou. (2024). When multiple talker exposure is necessary for cross-talker generalization: Insights into the emergence of sociolinguistic perception. Glossa Psycholinguistics, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.5070/g6011.21217
  • Julia Vonessen, Nicholas B. Aoki, Michelle Cohn, and Georgia Zellou. (2024). Comparing perception of L1 and L2 English by human listeners and machines: Effect of interlocutor adaptations. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 155(5), 3060-3070. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0025930
  • Nicholas B. Aoki and Georgia Zellou. (2024). Being clear about clear speech: Intelligibility of hard-of-hearing-directed, non-native-directed, and casual speech for L1- and L2-English listeners. Journal of Phonetics, 104, 101328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2024.101328
  • Nicholas B. Aoki and Georgia Zellou. (2023). Visual information affects adaptation to novel talkers: ethnicity-specific and ethnicity-independent learning of L2-accented speech. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 154(4), 2290 - 2304. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0021289.
  • Nicholas B. Aoki and Georgia Zellou. (2023). When clear speech does not enhance memory: Effects of speaking style, voice naturalness, and listener age. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 51(1), 060002. https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001766.
  • Nicholas B. Aoki and Georgia Zellou. (2023). Speakers talk more clearly when they see an East Asian face: Effects of visual guise on speech production. In: Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) (pp. 2294 - 2298). Guarant International. Available at: https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS2023/full_papers/45.pdf
  • Nicholas B. Aoki, Michelle Cohn, and Georgia Zellou. (2022). The clear speech intelligibility benefit for text-to-speech voices: Effects of speaking style and visual guise. JASA Express Letters, 2(4), 045204. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0010274
Membership and Service
  • Co-Guest Editor - Special Issue on Phonetics of Human-AI Interaction, Phonetica [along with Georgia Zellou and Nicole Holliday]
  • Mentorship - Hyunjin (Dylan) Lim (2025-); Bayleigh Baldwin (2024-2025, Co-Mentor with Georgia Zellou)
  • Ad Hoc Journal Review - Speech Communication (2025), Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (2022 [Co-Reviewer with Georgia Zellou], 2024)
  • Conference Abstract Review - Cluster on Language Research Symposium (2022-)
  • Cluster on Language Research - Co-Chair (2022-2023), Member (2021-2022, 2023-)
  • UC Davis Phonetics Lab - Website Manager (2024-)
  • UC Davis Linguistics Department - Website Manager (2023-2024) [Creator of Position]
  • Linguistics Graduate Student Association - Graduate Student Association Representative (2023-2024)
  • Sacramento Public Library Adult Literacy Program - Tutor (2022-2023)
  • Graduate and Professional School Events Grant Review Board - Member (2021-2022)
  • Professional Memberships - Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Linguistic Society of America, Association for Laboratory Phonology, International Phonetic Association, Acoustical Society of America