Kimia Habibnejad is pursuing her Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science at the College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University. She began her academic journey by completing her bachelor’s degree in Audiology at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Afterward, she obtained her master’s degree in Audiology from Iran University of Medical Sciences. With over ten years of experience as an audiologist, she worked in various hospitals in Tehran, Iran, before embarking on her Ph.D. program at Arizona State University. Her research primarily revolves around vocal emotion recognition of individuals with cochlear implants.