Communication Sciences and Disorders
AuD - Doctor of Audiology

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The following are the educational goals of the Au.D. program.The full time program is designed to prepare students to:

1. meet the entry level professional standards set by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the American Academy of Audiology as well as state licensure in Ohio and other states;

2. become competent audiologists across the range of roles and responsibilities within the scope of practice of audiologists, including diagnostic and rehabilitative audiology across the entire age range;

3. develop the scientific basis, research and critical thinking skills and experience in transitioning research to practice to become audiologists who use evidence based practice;

4. develop the life long learning skills to adapt to changes in the discipline and profession.

Graduates of this program will be prepared to work as audiologists in a diversity of clinical settings in health care, private practice, and education.

The post-baccalaureate four year curriculum includes a continuum of didactic course work, observation, laboratory experiences and clinical practice culminating with a capstone experience of one year of full-time clinical placement.

Before a student is allowed to begin the fourth year, he or she must have successfully completed a graduate clinically oriented research project. The Au.D. degree would be awarded upon successful completion of coursework, clinical practica, a research capstone experience, a fourth year clinical fellowship requirement, and a professional portfolio.

• PhD and Au.D./PhD in Audiology

The existing Ph.D. will be maintained as a research degree for those who do not desire clinical certification or who already have such certification. Ph.D. dissertations are complex and significant in scope and may be basic or applied in nature. In addition to the already existing Ph.D., and the proposed Au.D., the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders will offer a graduate program leading to the degrees Au.D./Ph.D.

ADMISSIONS

CURRICULUM: Au.D. CLINICAL TRACK

The curriculum for the Au.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders was developed to provide students with a strong foundation for clinical practice. This curriculum includes a core of required courses which follow the guidelines recommended by ASHA and AAA for graduate education and clinical certification in audiology.

We anticipate that Au.D. applicants with preparation other than that described above may be eligible for a modification of this curriculum to be determined by their academic advisor and the faculty. Electives may be chosen such that the student's curriculum leads to specialization in a specific clinical area (e.g., pediatrics, neuroscience and electrophysiological monitoring, cochlear implants). Such applicants might include those with: 1. PhD (other than audiology) 2. Master's degree and current certification in audiology 3. Bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders.

• Advising/Mentoring

Appointment of an academic advisor for each student will be made by the faculty and the Department Head at the time of the student's admission. The academic advisor will be selected on the basis of common interests with the applicant. The academic advisor must be a member of the Communication Disorders faculty. During the first quarter of study, the academic advisor and the student will meet to verify the proposed sequence of courses.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

• Research Capstone Experience

All Au.D. students must complete a capstone research experience prepared in the form of a thesis, a publishable paper, or a professional presentation. Students will select a capstone research advisor and at least one other faculty mentor. Students are encouraged to publish their research and/or present it at professional meetings.

If the student selects a thesis or publishable paper option, the student will select a research subject and research advisor and a committee of at least three faculty members will be appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies in CSD in consultation with the advisor and student. Two committee members must be members of the Communication Sciences and Disorders faculty. The committee may include one person from outside the department. This might be someone from the University faculty or from the community who has competence or interest in the topic.

• Summative Evaluation

At the end of the fourth year of the Au.D. program, the clinical fellow will be expected to prepare and defend a Scholarly Portfolio.

• Needs Assessment and Development of Coursework Plan

At the beginning of the first quarter of study, the academic advisor and the student will meet to plan the proposed sequence of courses. All Audiology faculty have an opportunity to read and provide written comments on the coursework plan.

The comprehensive examination and portfolio requirements will be the same as for the full time students. Part-time students will be required to complete the research capstone experience if they have not completed a thesis or research project as part of the master's degree.

Advanced standing will be granted based on transfer of up to 81 graduate quarter credits.

AUDIOLOGY PRACTICUM SITES

Access to Hearing
Cardinal Rehabilitation
Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati
Children's Hospital - Dayton
Cincinnati Head and Neck Associates
Cincinnati Center for Developmental Disorders
Cincinnati Public Schools
Dayton Public Schools
Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center
ENT Associates of Cincinnati
ENT Associates of Dayton
Good Samaritan Hospital
Hamilton County Board of Mental Retardation and Development Disorders
Hamilton County Head Start Programs
Hear USA
Hopewell Special Education Regional Resource Center
Jewish Hospital
Miami Valley Hospital - The Hearing and Balance Center
Otology Associates
St. Elizabeth Hospital - South Unit
St. Rita School for the Deaf
University of Cincinnati Clinic
University ENT Specialists
Veterans Administration Medical Center - Cincinnati
Veteran's Administration Medical Center - Dayton

• UC Department Facilities

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders currently occupies newly renovated clinic and research facilities that include state of the art audiology equipment and computer hardware and software with available technical support. We have a new, state of the art Assistive Listening Device center for hearing impaired consumers. In addition to current library holdings, the Department is able to purchase additional books annually through the Jean W. Rothenberg Collection in Hearing, Deafness and Language Acquisition (1100 volumes) housed in the Health Science Library. Additional holdings are available at the Children's Hospital and University Hospital libraries.

AUDIOLOGY FACULTY

Laura Kretschmer, Ed.D (Professor) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati, is an ASHA certified audiologist, who also holds an Ohio License in audiology. Dr. Kretschmer has taught at UC since 1967, specializing in the areas of pediatric and educational audiology. She is a Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association. She has published more than 2 dozen articles, chapters and 2 books with her husband, Richard on the subject of language development and intervention with children who have hearing loss.

Douglas Martin, Ph.D. (Associate Professor) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati is an ASHA certified audiologist. Dr. Martin joined the University of Cincinnati faculty after ten years at Portland State University where he served as the Program Director. His teaching and research is in the area of hearing aids, aural rehabilitation and the use of technology to support clinical service and teaching.

Susan Stanton, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati is an ASHA certified audiologist with a doctorate in physiology. Her basic research studies model sensorineural hearing and acoustic stimulation during development with a focus on the plasticity of the structure and function of the primary auditory cortex. Clinical research studies have examined electrophysiological and behavioral responses in patients with a variety of disorders including acoustic neuroma, Meniere's disease, and auditory neuropathy.

John Greer Clark, Ph.D. (Clinical Assistant Professor) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati , was a private practice audiologist from 1982 to 1997, and served as the Director of Clinical Services for Helix Hearing Care of America before joining the UC faculty in 2003. In addition to his teaching assignments he is the Clinical Director of the UC/Kenneth Donnelly Audiology Clinic at Woodward Career Technical High School .

Jo Manette Nousak, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)

Robert Keith, Ph.D. (Professor) is an ASHA certified audiologist and full time faculty member in the Department of Otolaryngology and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Cincinnati. He has a joint appointment without pay or specified effort in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. He teaches Electrophysiological Measurement and Vestibular Assessment as well as supervising theses and dissertations in the Department.

Janet Stein, M.A. (Assistant Clinical Professor) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (.65 FTE), is an ASHA certified audiologist. She received her Bachelor's in Psychology, UCLA, Magna Cum Laude,1973; Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, 1973; M.A. in Speech Pathology and Audiology, San Diego State University, Summa Cum Laude, 1975; Chief, Audiology Department, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Diego, 1975-1980; Director of Clinical Audiology, Hearing and Balance Laboratory of Otology Associates, Inc., Cincinnati, 1980-1995; Clinical Audiologist, Western Hills Hearing Center, Cincinnati, 1996 to present; Clinical Audiology Practicum Supervisor, University of Cincinnati, 1997 to present.

Ernest Weiler, Ph.D. (Professor Emeritus) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, received his Ph.D., in experimental psychology from the University of Louisville. He teaches and supervises student research in hearing science and auditory perception and conducts research in this area. In addition, he teaches statistics and research design courses and serves as a consultant for student and faculty research.

Suzanne Boyce, Ph.D. ( Associate Professor) Department of Communication sciences and Disorders, is an ASHA-certified Speech-Language Pathologist and speech scientist with a Ph.D. in Linguistics. She specializes in acoustic analysis of speech disorders and the relationship between physiology, acoustics and speech and language production. She has broad interests in the field of speech recognition by human and machine as well as the connection between hearing and speech production. She has National Institutes of Health funding for research on the acoustics of the vocal tract for normal and disordered production of liquid consonants.

Richard Kretschmer, Ed.D (Professor) has been a full time faculty member in the College of Education, Division of Special Education for 32 years and is currently Director of Doctoral Programs for the College. His expertise is in the areas of language development and the language of children with hearing impairment. He teachers a three-quarter sequence in language development and language intervention. Theories of Language Development I and II are taken by all audiology and speech-language pathology students.