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Audiology and Speech Sciences

Degrees Offered: Ph.D., M.Sc.

Members

Professors Emeritus

B. M. Bernhardt, J. H. V. Gilbert, D. Stapells.
 

Associate Professor Emeritus

B. Purves.
 

Assistant Professor Emeritus

C. E. Johnson.
 

Professors

V. Ciocca, J.A. Small.
 

Associate Professors

P. Colozzo, A. Herdman, T. Howe, L. Jenstad, S. Marinova-Todd, N. Shahnaz, S. Skoretz, D. Sladen.
 

Assistant Professor

A. Black.

 

Program Overview

The School of Audiology and Speech Sciences endeavours to advance knowledge of human communication and its disorders by actively engaging in research, and by educating individuals to become audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and researchers. In its teaching and research programs, the School emphasizes both the importance of basic science to the understanding of communication disorders and the relevance of clinical data to theories of human communication.

The School's M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs are designed to insure that graduates are grounded in the basic and applied sciences, can address complex communication problems within an interdisciplinary framework, and understand the relevance of theory in research as well as practical endeavours.

Doctor of Philosophy

The School offers a program leading to the Ph.D. with professional specialty in one of the following areas: psycholinguistics, acquired language disorders, developmental phonetics and phonology, language acquisition, developmental language disorders, discourse analysis, phonological and phonetic disorders, bilingualism, speech perception, speech understanding in the elderly, electrophysiologic and otoacoustic emissions diagnosis, and hearing science.

Admission Requirements

An applicant to the doctoral program should have completed a master's degree, typically in audiology and speech sciences, psychology, linguistics, or a related discipline.

Eligibility for admission will be decided by the Doctoral Studies Committee. The Committee will consist of the Graduate Advisor and a minimum of three other full members of the graduate faculty who are full-time faculty at the School. For details, see the Ph.D. Program.

Program Requirements

Students are required to take courses in research methodology and in major and minor areas of specialization, with the sequence of courses and seminars totaling at least 12 credits beyond the master's degree.

All doctoral students are required to successfully complete a comprehensive examination. The major requirement for the Ph.D. is completion of a research dissertation meeting the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies requirements.

Part-time Doctoral Classification is also available. This must be approved at the point of admission.

Master of Science

The School offers a post-graduate program leading to the Master of Science. This program is primarily designed to provide the scientific and clinical education necessary for the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology. Students must designate a sub-specialization in one of these two fields at the time of admission. The M.Sc. program will require 24 to 36 months to complete, depending on the student's undergraduate preparation and progress as a graduate student. The Master of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences (Speech-Language Pathology) offers a distributed program at geographically separated campuses. Students are admitted to one of two cohorts: Master of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences (Speech-Language Pathology)-Victoria; Master of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences (Speech Language Pathology)-Vancouver at UBC’s Point Grey Campus in Vancouver. For details see Audiology and Speech Sciences.

As well as providing opportunities for graduate research on human communication and its disorders, the M.Sc. program enables graduates to complete the academic and practical requirements for professional certification. The curriculum alternates periods of university-based study with periods of supervised clinical practice in the community. During these externships the student gradually assumes clinical responsibility for clients, under supervision. The clinical education program strives to provide each student with experience in all aspects of the major professional area as well as a foundation of clinical experience in the minor. Graduates will have completed at least the minimum number of hours of clinical practice required for certification by Canadian professional associations.

Admission Requirements

Admission is on a competitive basis. Students admitted to the M.Sc. degree program must meet the general admission requirements for master's degree programs set by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Applicants must also have appropriate undergraduate preparation as defined below.

For students seeking to specialize in Audiology, the routes for preparation are diverse and could include an undergraduate degree in, for example, linguistics, psychology, biology, or physics.

Students seeking to specialize in Speech-Language Pathology find that degree programs in linguistics and/or psychology are the best route to achieving the necessary undergraduate preparation for the M.Sc. degree program. However, students with other academic backgrounds who have outstanding academic records are also welcome to apply.

Applicants who would like to be considered for admission to the distributed Master of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences (Speech-Language Pathology) will have the opportunity to indicate their Program site preferences (Master of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences (Speech-Language Pathology)-Vancouver or Victoria) on the online application. All candidates must meet the same Master of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences (Speech-Language Pathology) Program admissions requirements regardless of their site preference.

For details, see Audiology.

Program Requirements

The School of Audiology and Speech Sciences offers an M.Sc. in two disciplines: (1) audiology and (2) speech-language pathology. Programs for each of these disciplines are designed to span 24–36 consecutive months. There are prerequisite courses considered to be an integral part of the School's curriculum. Students who have not completed these foundation courses at the time of admission will be required to do so, or to demonstrate equivalent knowledge, prior to receiving the M.Sc. degree. Please refer to the programs of study for both Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology.

Each student's program of study is approved by the graduate advisor commensurate with the specific disciplinary program and the student's background. For the two disciplines, the programs typically exceed the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies minimum of 30 credits. For Audiology, 45–50 credits of coursework are typically required; students must also complete either a thesis (AUDI 549) or a comprehensive examination. For Speech-Language Pathology, 50–55 credits of coursework are typically required. In addition, completion of the Master of Science degree for each discipline requires: (1) fulfillment of the prerequisite requirements, and (2) completion of Clinical Externships I, II, III and IV with a grade of 68% (B-) or higher.

Contact Information

School of Audiology and Speech Sciences
Friedman Building
443-2177 Wesbrook Mall
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3
Tel: 604.822.5591
Fax: 604.822.6569
Email: inquiry@audiospeech.ubc.ca
Web: www.audiospeech.ubc.ca
Winnie Wong, Program Assistant


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