Speech and Hearing Science
Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
122 Cary Hall
South Campus
Buffalo, NY 14214-3023
Phone: 716.829.2797
Fax: 716.829.3979
Web: wings.buffalo.edu/soc-sci/cds/
Elaine Stathopoulos
Chair
Jan Charles-Luce
Director of Undergraduate Studies
About the Department
The Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences deals with the development of various communicative processes, the causes of communicative disorders, the ways in which communicative disorders manifest themselves, the techniques used to analyze speech, language, and hearing disorders, and the methods used to remedy these problems. In order to understand fully both the development and the breakdown of communication, it is necessary to have a foundation in anatomy, physiology, psychology, linguistics, and other allied fields. The brealih of the discipline and the range of its applications make communicative disorders and sciences appealing to students from many diverse backgrounds. The two primary subfields in communicative disorders and sciences are speech-language pathology and audiology.
The undergraduate program with a major of speech and hearing science is a pre-professional degree. Students must earn a graduate degree in this field in order to obtain national certification, state licensure, or teacher certification. A bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from this department does not qualify students for employment in this profession or for any certification.
Special features of the department include:
- Center for Hearing and Deafness
- Child Language Lab
- Communicative and Assistive Device Lab
- Language Production Lab
- Motor Speech Disorders Lab
- Psychoacoustics Lab
- Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic
- Speech Production and Perception Labs
These also serve as department resources for students.
Degrees Offered
Undergraduate: B.A., Minor
Graduate: M.A. (Tracks in Audiology, Speech-Language Pathology), Au.D., Ph.D.
About Our Degrees
Acceptance Criteria
Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall.
Minimum GPA of 2.5 in prerequisite courses: CDS 151, CDS 286, CDS 288.
Acceptance Information
Applications considered on a rolling basis; students should apply when prerequisites have been completed.
Degree Requirements
See the Undergraduate Catalog.
Transfer Policy
About Our Courses
The Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences (CDS) is housed on the south campus where academic offices, laboratories and clinical facilities are located. CDS courses are taught in technology classrooms on the south campus.
For course descriptions, please see the Undergraduate Catalog.
About Our Faculty
Many faculty members hold prestigious federal research grants; one faculty member holds the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Special Academic Opportunities
All faculty members supervise students in independent studies within specialty areas of their individual expertise. Refer to the department web site for the faculty roster, which includes specialty areas.
Extracurricular Activities
The Student Association for Speech and Hearing (SASH) is part of the UB Student Association (SA) and is an active undergraduate student group. Typically their activities include: social gatherings with faculty and staff, potlucks, collection of food for soup kitchens, a Halloween event for the children in the Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic, and collecting toys for charities.
See the UB Student Association.
Complementary Programs and Courses
- Linguistics
- Occupational Therapy
- Physical Therapy
- Psychology
- Romance Languages and Literatures
Career Information
Speech and hearing professionals evaluate, treat, and conduct research into human communication and its disorders and work with infants, children, adolescents, adults and older people.
Skills gained in this program include:
Managing, interpreting, editing, advising, organizing, problem solving, detail orientation, writing, teaching, speaking to groups, presenting research findings, reading critically, reasoning, analyzing, thinking conceptually, research methods, research theory, evaluating evidence, advising, and selling.
Note that many careers require aulitional education at the graduate level.
What percentage of graduates goes on to find related employment?
25%
Alumni (or recent graduates) of Speech and Hearing Science have found employment in the following fields:
- Audiologist
- Corrective therapist
- Educator
- Occupational therapy
- Optometry
- Physical therapy
- Psychology
- Recreational therapy
- Rehabilitation counselor
- Researcher
- Speech-hearing consultant
- Speech teacher
- Teacher of deaf persons
- Voice pathologist
Work settings include:
- Businesses
- Colleges/universities
- Community clinics
- Developmentally disabled
- Elementary and high schools
- Government agencies
- Hearing impaired
- Hospitals
- Institutions for the deaf
- Nursing homes
- Physician's offices
- Private practice
- Research laboratories
Degree Level Required
The undergraduate program is a pre-professional degree. A master's degree is needed for New York State certification in the two primary subfields of communicative disorders and sciences: speech-language pathology and audiology.
Bachelor degree candidates with a New York State teaching certificate of the speech and hearing handicapped may be employed in public or private schools, which are exempt from the clinical requirement. However, these individuals are required to continue their education and obtain their permanent teaching certificate.
Salary Information
Salaries range greatly from one occupation, position, and work setting to another. According to the April 1998 NACE national salary survey for bachelor's degree graduates in speech pathology/audiology, the average salary is $30,000. The salary range for Western New York is $26,811 - $48,173.
Post-undergraduate Opportunities
As this is a pre-professional program, many students go on to enter graduate programs in either speech-language pathology or audiology, enter graduate programs in other professional fields such as medicine or law, or enter the fields of business or education.
What percentage of graduates goes on to graduate school?
75%
Aulitional Resources
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association