Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences

Rene Gifford, PhD, works with patient Davy Hillis to program his cochlear implant.
September 10, 2020

Global recommendations for cochlear implants outlined

More than 432 million adults across the globe live with a disabling hearing loss, but of those who are candidates for cochlear implants, only 4-5% receive one.

By Kelsey Herbers
Rene Gifford, PhD, works with patient Davy Hillis to program his cochlear implant.
August 6, 2020

Team to create customizable cochlear implant programming

A team of Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers has received a $3.1 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop advanced, patient-specific cochlear implant stimulation models for customized implant programming.

By VUMC News and Communications
Daniel Shaw, MS, BS, SLP, a speech-language pathologist, leads families in the Preschool for Children with Autism through a virtual sing-along via videoconference.
May 21, 2020

Preschools for autism and hearing loss adapt to virtual learning

As social distancing mandates have been implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many teachers have relied on creativity to continue providing educational opportunities for their students.

By Kelsey Herbers
Researchers are developing software to make social media platforms more accessible for adults with traumatic brain injury.
May 7, 2020

Project seeks to help adults with TBI access social media

With more than $2 million in funding, researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center are developing software to make social media platforms more accessible for adults with cognitive disabilities.

By Kelsey Herbers
Melissa Duff, PhD
May 7, 2020

Study to explore memory system’s role in TBI behavior deficits

VUMC researchers are beginning a new five-year study to characterize the role of a memory system in behavioral deficits commonly seen in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

By Kelsey Herbers
April 1, 2020

Study to explore TBI’s impact on language processing

Researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University have been awarded more than $3.8 million to study the impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on one’s ability to process language in everyday settings.

By Kelsey Herbers
March 19, 2020

Partnership speeds speech-language interventions

Preschoolers in the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) district are more quickly being identified as having a communication disability thanks to a new partnership between the district and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
By Kelsey Herbers
February 20, 2020

It takes a village

The 59th annual Christmas Village, a three-day November shopping extravaganza organized by the Nashville Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club, raised $530,600 to benefit the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center and other Pi Beta Phi philanthropies.
By VUMC News and Communications
January 9, 2020

Same-day cochlear implant surgeries reduce travel burden, wait times

VUMC is testing an optimized cochlear implant delivery model that offers patients hearing tests, radiologic scans, surgical consultation, device selection and outpatient surgery all on the day of their initial visit.
By Kelsey Herbers
December 27, 2019

Grants bolster scholarships for students studying autism, pediatric hearing loss

Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences has received three new grants from the U.S. Department of Education to train graduate students to work with children with autism and hearing loss.
By Kelsey Herbers
September 12, 2019

Tharpe, Woynaroski honored by speech sciences association

Two faculty members from Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences have been recognized with annual awards from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), VUMC’s credentialing organization.
By Kelsey Herbers
August 22, 2019

Technology upgrades, signal sharing enhance hearing aid capabilities

Vanderbilt’s hearing aid services provide patients with a variety of unique resources.
By Kelsey Herbers
July 24, 2019

Defective transporter linked to autism

A first-of-its-kind mouse model may help reveal mechanistic underpinnings for the altered behaviors of autism spectrum disorder.
By Bill Snyder