Speech & Hearing Clinic

The Speech & Hearing Clinic is compliant with the Privacy Rule of HIPAA. Our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices is available in English and Spanish. (Acrobat Reader is required to open these files.)

The University of Connecticut's Speech & Hearing Clinic provides a full range of evaluation and treatment services to both children and adults with speech, language, and/or hearing disorders. Persons served range in age from infancy to the elderly. The Clinic’s operations are guided by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (2005) Quality Indicators for Professional Service Programs in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (available at www.asha.org / members / deskref / journals / deskref).

Services address disorders of hearing, language, cognition (memory and attention), articulation/phonological disorders, stuttering, swallowing, and voice disorders. Special programs are available for improving English pronunication.

Clinic appointments usually are arranged between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. with some evening appointment available for audiology services Mondays through Fridays throughout the year. The Clinic operates on a non-profit fee schedule basis and accepts payments from third party sources. Funding for services supports some clients through federal, state, and local programs such as Medicaid, Department of Income Maintenance, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, and school systems, as well as through various health plans and commercial insurance coverage.

Audiology Services

• Available to infants, children, and adults of all ages.
• Complete audiologic assessment to determine the presence, type and severity of hearing impairment. In addition to routine audiometry, special testing is conducted such as immitance, otoacoustic emissions, and electrophysiologic testing to determine candidacy for amplification and/or referral for medical evaluations.
• Hearing aid evaluation to guide selection of appropriate amplification including hearing aids and assistive listening devices; assessment of performance and electroacoustic characteristics of the aids; and dispensing of hearing aids. The Clinic dispenses a full range of makes, models, and technologies of hearing aids.
• Central auditory processing assessment.
  
• Aural rehabilitiation to enhance listening skills and to provide orientation for successful hearing aid use for individuals with hearing disability and their families/others.
• Assistive listening devices - consultation, demonstration, recommendations, and sales of devices
• Specialty earmolds, such as musician's plugs, swim plugs, monitors, and iPodmolds.

Speech-Language Pathology services

• Available to infants, children, and adults of all ages with problems in articulation, fluency, cognition, voice, swallowing, and/or language.
• Comprehensive speech and language evaluation to determine the presence, type and severity of the problem and the potential benefit from therapeutic treatment.
• Special testing as indicated by the person's age, general health and development, education or vocational needs, and other specific concerns.
• Enrollment in individual or group sessions for treatment.
• Parent/spouse/other caregiver observation and/or participation when appropriate. Planning for and outcomes of treatment continuously include individuals/families/other caregivers.
• Assessment and treatment of language and literacy skills for school age children and young adults. These include: phonological awareness, reading development, language development, and written language.
• Consultative services to individuals, agencies, and school systems.

Services are provided by audiologists and speech-language pathologists who are certifed by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and licensed to practice by the Connecticut State Department of Public Health. Most professional staff are members of the faculty in the University's Department of Communciation Sciences. Graduate students from the University's academic program in Speech, Language and Hearing often participate in the Clinic's services to clients. There is frequent consultation and collaboration with faculty whose research and teaching in specific disorder areas are nationally recognized.

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