Hearing and Speech Science

Define and measure fundamental properties of sound including; frequency (Hz), amplitude (dB SPL), pressure (dynes or cm of H2O) and signal-to-noise ratio.

Describe how sound waves are created, travel and are reflected, absorbed, reverberated or perceived, mechanically and physiologically.

Describe theories or models of respiration, phonation and vowel production including Boyle's law, Bernoulli's principle, Source-Filter theory and the Myoelastic Aerodynamic Theory of phonation.

Identify and describe unique characteristics of consonant types (e.g., stops vs. fricatives) and vowels on an acoustic waveform and/or spectrogram.

Describe etiologies, characteristics and consequences on communication for common disorders of respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance, hearing and auditory processing.

Analyze and interpret audiograms by identifying degree of hearing loss, type of hearing loss and audiometric configuration.

Describe the anatomy and physiology of the peripheral and central auditory mechanism.

Define and apply basic concepts in psychoacoustics to various 'real-world' listening situations.

Interpret how various disorders of the auditory mechanism impact speech and language development.

Differentiate voice disorders using perceptual and quantitative measures of pitch, loudness, range, variability and perturbation.