Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences

Children with developmental disabilities less likely to receive gold-standard hearing assessment

More than 30% of children with permanent hearing loss have additional disabilities. A timely diagnosis of reduced hearing and access to appropriate interventions can maximize developmental outcomes.

Mama Lere Hearing School graduation

The Mama Lere Hearing School teaches children, mostly with hearing loss, to listen, read, sing and talk.

What happens when musicians lose their hearing? Many find their way to VUMC’s Katie Berg — a scientist, a clinician — and a musician.

Cochlear implants can restore the ability to hear speech, but not music. In the heart of Music City, Katie Berg helps fit cochlear implants tuned specially for the needs of musicians.

Restoring balance

Doctoral students recently traveled to Krakow, Poland to provide free vestibular testing and treatment to 53 Ukrainian refugees experiencing dizziness and imbalance.

By VUMC News and Communications

Researchers in I HEAR lab recruit patients for donepezil and neuroplasticity study

Researchers in Vanderbilt’s Implantables, Hearing Enhancement and Amplification Research Laboratory have launched a study of neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to adapt to new information, in cochlear implant outcomes.

By Danny Bonvissuto

July 20, 2023

Rare case: brain injury stirs creativity, synesthesia

Vanderbilt researchers report on a musician who acquired synesthesia — a merging of sensations — and improved creativity following a traumatic brain injury.