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Division of Speech and Hearing Takes Part in $8.9M Study of Childhood Hearing Loss
Melody F. Harrison, Ph.D., a professor of speech and hearing sciences in the Department of Allied Health Sciences will participate in a five-year, $8.9-million study aimed at understanding the impact hearing loss can have on children’s ability to communicate, succeed in school, and have good social and psychological development. She will work with Patricia A. Roush, Au.D., an assistant professor and director of pediatric audiology in the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
Results from the study, which also involves the University of Iowa and Boys Town National Research Hospital in Nebraska, will provide information on the effect of early intervention and amplification devices fitted to infants and young children up to 9 years old with mild to severe hearing loss.
The study is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, part of the National Institutes of Health. It differs from most other research to date on childhood hearing loss, which has focused on severe to profound hearing loss that amounts to deafness.
Children with mild-to-severe hearing loss have hearing thresholds in the 26 decibel to 75 decibel range, compared to the normal threshold of 0 decibels to 20 decibels. Until newborn hearing screening was introduced in North Carolina in 2000, many children with hearing loss in this range were not identified until they reached school age.
Today, many children are identified in the first few weeks of life and receive hearing aids by 2-3 months of age researchers say and earlier hearing aid fitting and appropriate services are allowing many children to develop excellent speech, language, and academic skills.
UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Literacy and Disability Studies Teams Up with Junior Girl Scouts at "Special Pencils for Special Kids" Event
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The UNC-CH CLDS and the area |
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Jake Palmer, a student |
The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies (CLDS) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill teamed up with the Junior Girl Scouts of Durham for an exciting community service project. On Saturday, January 19 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm Girl Scouts from Troops 49, 157, 283, 502, and 1281 gathered at the Parkwood United Methodist Church in Durham to make special pencils for students with significant disabilities who are unable to write with their hands. "The Junior Girl Scouts recognize the importance of helping people with significant disabilities. Thanks to their hard work, many students with disabilities will now have a way to write," said Gretchen Hanser, MS OTR, with CLDS.
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings Names UNC-Chapel Hill Cytotechnology Classroom
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Ribbon Cutting: Dr. Myla Lai-Goldman, Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer and Medical Director for Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, cuts the ribbon to the new LabCorp Cytotechnology Classroom joined by (from left to right) Dr. Etta Pisano, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Medicine; Ashlyn Duke, Cytotechnology student; Allen Rinas, Professor and Director of UNC Cytotechnology; Susan Beck, Professor and Director of UNC Clinical Laboratory Science; and Carol Tresolini, Associate Provost for Academic Initiatives for UNC-Chapel Hill. |
Professor Jackson Roush Receives National Award from American Academy of Audiology
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Dr. Jack Roush (left) with Paul Pessis, president |
Dr. Jackson Roush, Professor and Director of the University of North Carolina Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, was recipient of the 2007 Presidential Award given by the American Academy of Audiology at its annual convention in Denver, Colorado, on April 19, 2007. The award was presented to Dr. Roush in "grateful appreciation for his significant contributions to the American Academy of Audiology and the audiology profession, and in recognition of his leadership in expanding the quantity and quality of clinical externship sites and preceptors for doctoral students in audiology.
Throughout his career, Dr. Roush has worked on behalf of children with hearing loss and their families as a clinician, author, educator, and member of the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. The Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC, established in 1969, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, are internationally recognized for excellence in education, research, and professional service. One of seven divisions in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, UNC School of Medicine, the Division’s academic degree programs include a master’s (M.S.) in speech-language pathology and doctoral degrees in audiology (Au.D.), and speech and hearing sciences (Ph.D.). The audiology and speech-language pathology programs at UNC are among the nation’s top-ranked graduate programs.
Speech and Hearing Sciences Online Course is First at UNC to Earn National Quality Recognition
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences and the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell) are pleased to announce that the survey course, Special Topics in Speech and Hearing, has earned the Quality Matters designation for meeting educational quality assurance standards. Click here for more information.
FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA Donates New Instructional Equipment
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Makoto Kawaguchi (second from right), President and CEO of FUJIFILM, and Professor Joy Renner (center), Director of the Division of Radiologic Science, participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating FUJIFILM’s donation of a CR system to the Division of Radiologic Science. |
FUJIFILM Medical Systems, has donated and installed a computed radiography (CR) system valued at $189,000 in the Division of Radiologic Sciences’ new teaching laboratory in the Burnett-Womack Building at UNC-Chapel Hill.
"The FUJIFILM CR system allows our students to learn in a laboratory setting the skills and knowledge required to optimize image quality and reduce patient radiation dose. These skills and knowledge will enhance their clinical practice while in the program and beyond graduation,” said Joy Renner, Associate Professor and Director of the Division.
Radiologic science is a health profession concerned with medical imaging for diagnosis and assessment of disease and injury. The Division offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Radiologic Science, a certificate program in Radiography, and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program for radiologist assistants. Since 1977, the Division has been committed to educating radiologist assistants and radiologic technologists to joint North Carolina's health care workforce with 80% of the Division’s 254 alumni working and residing in the state.