Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences

Rene Gifford, PhD, works with patient Davy Hillis to program his cochlear implant.
February 21, 2019

Study takes personal approach to cochlear implant programming

Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently received a $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to improve outcomes for children with significant hearing loss by providing individualized, prescription-like programming for their cochlear implants.

By Kelsey Herbers
Dominique Herrington, MS, left, assists Aphasia Group member Alex Pearson in preparing for the day’s large-group discussions.
February 14, 2019

Aphasia Group helps patients build communication skills

For Dominique Herrington, MS, assistant manager of Rehab Services for the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences’ Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute, Thursdays are the best days to come to work.

By Kelsey Herbers
January 10, 2019

Duff’s traumatic brain injury research honored by NIDILRR

In support of her research to understand and improve long-term outcomes of individuals with traumatic brain injury, Melissa Duff, PhD, associate professor of Hearing and Speech Sciences, was recently named a 2018 Distinguished Switzer Research Fellow by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).

By Kelsey Herbers
October 11, 2018

Couple’s gift expands legacy of hearing, speech research

Anne Marie Tharpe, PhD, might not have become a worldwide authority on pediatric hearing loss if she hadn’t been looking for something to do during study hall in her high school years in Memphis. One day, she and a friend volunteered to work in a classroom with deaf children.

By Matt Batcheldor
August 23, 2018

Study explores risk factors for acoustic neuroma growth

Surgeons face a delicate proposition when treating acoustic neuromas, benign tumors on the nerve that affect hearing and balance. Removing small tumors through surgery and radiation can cause complications such as the loss of hearing, when the tumors may not grow and impact quality of life for years. But not removing them can allow them to grow and be more difficult to remove and pose even greater risks.

By Matt Batcheldor
August 2, 2018

New audiology clinic makes debut in Green Hills

Adult patients now have a convenient new option for hearing evaluations, hearing aid consultations and fittings and other services with the opening of a new audiology clinic in Green Hills.

By Matt Batcheldor
April 26, 2018

Remote microphone system helps increase vocabulary of children with hearing loss

Children with hearing loss who use remote microphone systems (RMS) at home have access to about 42 percent more words each day, providing a critical boost to vocabulary and language learning, a Vanderbilt study has found.
By Matt Batcheldor
February 15, 2018

Ohde remembered as consummate teacher, researcher

Ralph Ohde, PhD, professor emeritus of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, died Jan. 8. He was 73.
By Matt Batcheldor
October 12, 2017

New technique measures intricacies of movement, gestures

A Vanderbilt researcher has developed a new technique to measure body movement that can be employed in fields that study gestures.
By Matt Batcheldor
September 7, 2017

Study reveals how brain processes spatial hearing information

Scientists have known that the brain detects where sound comes from based on a couple of major cues — when the sound hits each ear (interaural time difference) and what the sound level is when it does (interaural level difference.) Less is known, however, about where and how that spatial hearing information is processed in the brain.
By Matt Batcheldor
May 22, 2017

Male adults needed for hearing study

The Vanderbilt Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences is seeking male adults to participate in a research study. The study will explore how the brain processes linguistic sounds.
By VUMC News and Communications
May 12, 2017

Children 8–11 with normal hearing needed for study

The Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences is looking for research subjects to better understand how children listen in background noise.
By VUMC News and Communications
December 1, 2016

Children who do and do not stutter needed for a research study

Boys and girls age 4 to 6—those who stutter and those who do not—are needed for a research study, "Emotional Processing in Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter."
By VUMC News and Communications
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