Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences

Main Departmental Office
Speech and Hearing Center, Room 260
Mailing Address:
1155 Union Circle #305010
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940-565-2481

Web site: www.speechandhearing.unt.edu

Ernest J. Moore, Chair

Faculty

Notice: As of Sept. 13, 2013, the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences and it programs and courses have been realigned under the College of Public Affairs and Community Service.

The primary goal of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences is to prepare students to work professionally with communicatively disabled individuals, as well as to serve as faculty members in academic programs. The department provides course work, laboratory training and clinical practicum experiences that enable students to satisfy the educational and clinical requirements for national professional certification by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and state licensure in speech-language pathology, audiology, or both. A second and equally important mission of the department is the professional development of the discipline through research and clinical services.

Research

The Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences maintains research laboratory space and state-of-the-art equipment to conduct a wide range of investigations of the auditory system and on the normal and abnormal production, perception, recognition and understanding of speech and language. Research includes studies of auditory evoked potentials, speech perception, articulation, language, motor speech disorders, vocal pathologies and swallowing disorders. Other ongoing research projects investigate communication assessment and rehabilitation techniques including hearing aids, cochlear implants, and auditory processing in children and adults; hearing loss in musicians in conjunction with the Center for Music and Medicine of the College of Music; the investigation of auditory cortical neuron pattern processing studies with the Center for Network Neuroscience in the Department of Biological Sciences; cochlear implant technology with the Department of Electrical Engineering and the study of vocal inharmonicity analysis in conjunction with the Department of Physics.

Degree programs

The department offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Arts with a major in speech-language pathology and the Doctor of Audiology.

Accreditation

The graduate programs in both speech-language pathology and audiology are accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) (10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852; 800-498-2071). Students who earn the master’s degree in speech-language pathology and the professional doctorate in audiology will be provided with the opportunity to meet the academic and clinical practicum requirements for ASHA’s Certificate of Clinical Competence in their specialty areas. Those students whose programs of study at the master’s or doctoral level satisfy the ASHA requirements will simultaneously satisfy the requirements for licensure by the State of Texas in the professional area of the student’s degree program.

Admission requirements

Admission to the graduate degree programs in speech and hearing sciences is competitive. Available facilities and clinical resources do not permit admission of all qualified applicants.

Admission forms may be obtained from the Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School.

Speech-language pathology students are admitted only in the fall semester; likewise, audiology students are admitted only in the fall semester. For admission in the following fall semester, all required materials should be postmarked and filed by February 15 for the speech-language pathology program and by March 1 for the audiology program.

All required material (including GRE scores) must be on file before prospective applicants will be considered for admission. Undergraduates who plan to apply for graduate study should arrange to take the GRE during their junior or senior year.

In addition to the admission requirements of the graduate school, the department requires the following.

A grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 on the last 60 hours of undergraduate work or an overall GPA of 2.8 on all undergraduate work.
A GPA of at least 3.0 on all speech and hearing sciences course work, including those courses taken to remove undergraduate deficiencies.
All students must submit satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) prior to admission. Students will not be provisionally admitted to the master’s programs in speech pathology or audiology. For standardized admission test requirements, contact the department or the Toulouse Graduate School .
Three satisfactory letters of recommendation, including at least two from the last academic institution attended.
A personal statement discussing one’s life, experiences, strengths and weaknesses, and professional goals.

Letters of recommendation and the personal statement should be addressed to: Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305010, Denton, TX 76203-5017.

In all cases, the department maintains the right to make independent inquiry of the applicant’s references and the faculties of institutions previously attended, as well as to deny admission to an applicant who, in its judgment, fails to meet personal or academic admission standards. In all cases the applicant is assured the right to due process.

Individuals applying to the graduate program in speech-language pathology without a minimum of 15 hours of undergraduate course work in speech and hearing sciences but who otherwise meet departmental GPA and GRE admission requirements will be required to complete at least 15 hours of course work at the undergraduate level in this discipline before admission to graduate study. Depending upon undergraduate preparation, additional undergraduate course work may be necessary to meet requirements for professional certification and licensing.

Individuals applying to the professional doctoral program in audiology without course work in normal speech, language, speech disorders, and language disorders will be required to complete courses in these subjects. These courses may be taken concurrently with graduate-level courses in audiology. Depending upon undergraduate preparation, additional undergraduate course work may be necessary to meet requirements for professional certification and licensing.

Individuals, regardless of their prior undergraduate major, who do not meet the departmental GPA requirements and who still wish to enter the departmental graduate program, will be required to take a 30-semester-hour program of undergraduate course work in this discipline at the University of North Texas and earn a GPA of 3.0 or better. Individuals who successfully meet this requirement must resubmit their application for graduate admission to this program and will still be required to satisfy the departmental GRE requirements.

Students admitted to the Toulouse Graduate School as non-degree students are restricted from enrollment in the following:

graduate-level courses in speech pathology and audiology; and
SPHS 5060 , SPHS 5065 , SPHS 6010 , or SPHS 6020 (clinical practicum) courses for graduate credit.

Non-degree students who register for any of these courses will be subject to administrative withdrawal. Non-degree students may enroll in undergraduate courses for undergraduate credit only.

Programs

Master’s Degree

Doctorate

Audiology, AuD

Courses

Speech and Hearing Sciences

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