BE HEARD

DEPARTMENT OF

Hearing & Speech Sciences

0100 SAMUEL J. LEFRAK HALL7251 PREINKERT DR.COLLEGE PARK, MD 20742

WWW.HESP.UMD.EDUP 301.405.4213 / F 301.314.2023 HESP_STAFF@UMD.EDU

The Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences

is one of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’

10 interdisciplinary departments and programs,

all committed to investigating and improving the

human condition. www.bsos.umd.edu

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIESBE EMPOWERED

ANTHROPOLOGYBE CULTURAL

CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICEBE JUST

ECONOMICSBE EFFICIENT

GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCESBE GLOBAL

GOVERNMENT & POLITICSBE CIVIL

HEARING & SPEECH SCIENCESBE HEARD

JOINT PROGRAM IN SURVEY METHODOLOGYBE COUNTED

PSYCHOLOGYBE UNDERSTOOD

SOCIOLOGYBE SOCIAL

Hearing & Speech Sciences at Maryland

At the University of Maryland’s Department of Hearing and

Speech Sciences, we’re discovering new knowledge that

gives people with speech, language and hearing impairments

new opportunities to thrive. Our faculty and students work

with individuals of all ages, investigating how the ear and brain

work together to hear and interpret spoken language. We assist

patients recovering from brain injuries. We work to restore or

improve impaired voice, fluency and language skills that limit

educational, vocational and social success. We transform

the student experience by studying the brain in action at the

Maryland Neuroimaging Center, and through rigorous research

and experiential learning opportunities.

We inspire Maryland pride by directly serving the local

community to assess and treat patients with disorders at our

clinic and preschool. Holocaust survivors receive free hearing

aids through our work with the Jewish Social Service Agency in

Rockville, Md. Through a partnership with Walter Reed National

Military Medical Center, we assist wounded service members—

while offering hands-on training to speech-language patholo-

gists, audiologists and speech-language and hearing scientists.

Our research turns imagination into innovation and is

funded by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.

Research Overview >>

Our faculty, students, partners and alumni focus their work and outreach

in four main areas:

» Applied Clinical Research

» Assistive Technology-Rehab for Speech, Language and Hearing

» Cognitive Neuroscience and Communication Disorders

» Communication and Communication Disorders across the Life Span

go.umd.edu/HESPResearch

THROUGH NEW RESEARCH,

diagnoses and treatments, we advance human communication.Academic Offerings >>

UNDERGRADUATE OFFERINGS

Bachelor of Arts

Minor in Hearing and Speech Sciences

go.umd.edu/HESPUndergraduate

GRADUATE OFFERINGS

Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology

Doctor of Audiology in Clinical Audiology

Doctor of Philosophy

Combined Au.D./Ph.D. in Clinical Audiology

Combined M.A./Ph.D. Program

go.umd.edu/HESPGraduate

—JULIE KNORR, HESP ’17 Member, National Student Speech Language Hearing Association; Member, Program for Undergraduate Language Science Ambassadors in Research

“This major covers the biological bases for the

vital task of communication. My dream job

would be as a research scientist and professor—

being able to contribute to the field in a mean-

ingful way and inspiring others to do the same!”

MAYA FREUND, HESP ’15Au.D. candidate; recipient, BSOS Summer Scholars Award

“ People go into this profession because they

want to help people. It’s not really selfless,

though, because it makes me feel really good.”

Clinic, Collaborations x& Initiatives >>

The University of Maryland Hearing and Speech Clinic has pro-

vided speech, language and hearing therapy services to the community

since 1949. Learn more at go.umd.edu/HESPClinic.

Our faculty and students are frequently involved in research collabo-

rations and innovative labs, both within our department and across

departments at UMD. Learn more at go.umd.edu/HESPCollaborations.

The Department has many initiatives and ongoing projects, with

both research and clinical foci. These include Traumatic Brain Injury

and Sports Concussion, the University of Maryland Autism Research

Consortium, and Infant Cognition and Early Intervention. Learn more at

go.umd.edu/HESPInitiatives.

Faculty Research Highlights >>

In addition to serving as a speech-language

pathologist and a member of the clinical faculty,

KATHY DOW-BURGER is the associate director

of the University of Maryland Autism Research

Consortium. She works with students and clinicians

to better understand and treat autism spectrum

disorders and other social language disorders.

She also founded the Social Interaction Group Network for Students with

Autism, a campus organization devoted to helping students on the autism

spectrum develop skills to successfully negotiate higher education.

JARED NOVICK focuses on how non-linguistic

cognitive systems (like our ability to control atten-

tion) support interpretation and re-interpretation

procedures as language input unfolds moment by

moment. He addresses this issue by employing

an experimental paradigm that tracks listeners’

eye movements as they listen to and comprehend

spoken language, because eye fixation patterns provide important time-

course information about listeners’ ongoing interpretation processes.

His work also investigates how young children’s limited ability to control

attention influences language processing and learning, and also how adult

bilinguals’ language-switching affects their attention more generally.

SANDRA GORDON-SALANT examines the

characteristics of accented English—as well as

sensory, perceptual and cognitive changes that

accompany aging—to understand why older

listeners have difficulty understanding accented

speech. Her experiments examine the hypothesis

that accent alters the timing information in English,

which stresses older listeners’ decline in perceiving subtle differences

in timing. This research is leading to great insight about the complex

interactions between acoustic changes in accented speech and the

abilities of younger vs. older listeners to perceive and adapt to such

deviations. Ultimately, training programs to improve perception of

accented English will be developed.

PAULA SCHAUER reaches out to local adult

communities and senior centers to educate senior

citizens about untreated hearing loss and its

impact on healthy aging. Untreated hearing loss

globally affects health and wellness and is now

linked to cognitive decline and dementia. Through

the implementation of hearing screenings, instruc-

tional programs and rehabilitation services, Schauer has taken steps to

mitigate the influence of hearing loss on the quality of life of seniors in the

Maryland community.

go.umd.edu/HESPPeople

HESP Points of Pride >>

OUR AWARD-WINNING FACULTY ARE EXPERTS IN THEIR FIELD; ARE FREQUENTLY INVITED TO PUBLISH AND LECTURE; AND ARE OFTEN FEATURED BY THE MEDIA.

OUR GRADUATE PROGRAMS AND AREAS OF SPECIALTY ARE CONSISTENTLY RANKED AMONG THE TOP 25 IN THE NATION BY U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT.

25OUR OUTSTANDING CLINIC AND LEAP PRESCHOOL IMPROVE THE LIVES OF OUR PATIENTS AND SERVE OUR COMMUNITY.

OUR LOCATION NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C., ANNAPOLIS AND BALTIMORE ALLOWS FOR EXCEPTIONAL INTERNSHIPS AND OPPORTUNITIES.

STUDENTS WORK WITH FACULTY ON CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH PROJECTS.

NEARLY 100% OF OUR CLINICAL GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE EMPLOYED UPON GRADUATION.