Hearing and Speech Sciences

Introduce students to the concept of language disorders and their types (grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic), their causes, assessment and diagnosis methods, treatment, and the tools used in assessment and intervention; train students to administer various language assessments, collect samples, and analyze them.

Introduce students to various speech disorders, both functional and organic, and the different causes leading to these disorders and their impact on psychological, social, and academic performance; and the various methods for diagnosing and treating them, and the importance of early detection and early intervention.

Study of phonetics and its applications in the field of speech-language pathology, focusing on teaching and practicing the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for transcribing both normal and disordered speech; also study the relationship between the speech of people with communication disorders and analyzing their communication problems.

Study of the anatomy and physiology of the auditory and speech organs, including the mechanisms of hearing and balance, respiration, voice production, articulation, resonance, and the neurophysiological principles necessary to understand the processes of hearing and speech.

Introduce students to the fundamental theories of first language acquisition and stages of language development in children from birth to school age, focusing on phoneme acquisition, development of the phonological system, vocabulary acquisition and development, syntax, and semantics; train students to collect language samples, analyze them, and compare them with available standards in this field.

Introduce students to the importance of the assessment process and the scientific and practical steps to perform it, as well as standardized and non-standardized tests used in assessment; identify the various devices that can be used in assessment; and how to write clinical reports for communication disorders such as assessment and diagnosis reports, treatment plans, daily plans, and progress reports.

An analysis of aspects of linguistics including syntax, semantics, morphology, and functional linguistics with a focus on the Arabic language; it also covers some theories in psycholinguistics and the natural development of language, speech, and hearing.

Introduction to the profession of audiology and performing basic audiometric tests: pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry and discrimination, use of clinical masking, testing middle-ear function, and methods of assessment and management of hearing loss.