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Background

The fields of Speech and Hearing Sciences are multi-disciplinary areas of study encompassing a large number of traditional disciplines including Linguistics, Psychology, the Medical and Clinical Sciences, Biology, Physics, Computer Science and Engineering. This diverse field includes people whose focus is on basic research and people whose particular focus is on clinical research or clinical practice, as well as people whose prime interest is in the development of new speech, hearing and language technologies.

The Speech and Hearing Sciences have evolved significantly in recent years. Traditionally, linguists, phoneticians, psychologists, clinicians, engineers, computer scientists, etc. each studied some aspect of speech or hearing and each from the perspective of their particular discipline. Many researchers worked, and much research existed, in effective disciplinary isolation. This has been changing greatly since the 1980's with many professional societies and conferences now catering for researchers from a broad spectrum of professional backgrounds.

It is no longer adequate for people working in the fields of Speech and Hearing to merely equip themselves with the tools and knowledge of one of the related and overlapping disciplines. Successful practitioners, whether clinicians or scientists, need to be equipped with tools, methods and knowledge from diverse sources. The purpose of the Bachelor of Speech and Hearing Science is to properly equip future practitioners in the Speech and Hearing Sciences with the tools appropriate to these rapidly growing fields. Such tools come from the related disciplines and from evolving methodologies specific to the speech and hearing fields.

The Bachelor of Speech and Hearing Sciences consists of a number of core units covering introductory studies in Psychology and Linguistics, together with at least some basic studies in each of Statistics and Biology. There are four major areas of study. They are Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology, Cognitive Psychology and Speech Research. All students will take a number of core units in second and third year that are considered areas of basic common knowledge for all four areas of study. Students will also take a number of additional units that are compulsory in their area of specialisation. Beyond the core and compulsory units there is some scope for supporting studies either in one or more of the other three areas of study or in some other science area such as Biology, Computing, Electronics.

Major Studies

• Audiology
• Speech and Language Pathology
• Speech Research
• Cognitive Psychology

Minor Studies

Limited supplementary studies in Biology, Computing, Mathematics, Physics, Electronics are possible in addition to the major studies outlined above.

Honours

A fourth honours year can be taken in any of the four major studies areas.

Departmental Facilities

The Centre for Language Sciences (CLaS) within the Linguistics Department at Macquarie University contains a well equipped speech research laboratory. Also located within the Linguistics Department are both Audiology and Speech and Language Pathology clinics.

The Psychology Department at Macquarie University has a very distinguished research record in Cognitive Psychology with much of this work examining the cognitive aspects of human speech and language processing. The Psychology department is also equipped with extensive clinical and research facilities.

Relevant Clinical and Professional Masters Degrees at Macquarie University

• Master of Clinical Audiology
• Master of Speech and Language Pathology
• Master of Science in Speech and Language Processing
• Various postgraduate courses in Psychology

Interested in a career in Audiology or Speech pathology? Click here to listen to an audio of the Program Conveners and students discussing these programs.

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