Founded in 1937, HSLS is one of the oldest academic programs in communication sciences and disorders in the world and has one of the very first university clinics.
Numerous HSLS alumni have achieved highly visible leadership positions as researchers, professors, authors, clinic directors, and administrators.
HSLS has one of the largest programs in communication sciences and disorders.
HSLS faculty members are known internationally for their research and clinical expertise.
Current funding sources include the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, and several private companies and foundations.
PhD students also have ongoing success with research awards (including current awards from the NIH, the ASHF, the American Auditory Society, and several from industry).
Distinctive HSLS programs serve as national models for best practices in other universities across the US and abroad. These include the HSLS Undergraduate Research Club, the OHIO Respite Volunteer Program, and the HSL clinic.
Unlike most university-based clinics, ours operates as a clinical business enterprise in multiple sites.
The School has a solid commitment to international collaboration and ample external clinical research sites involving underserved populations throughout the US and abroad (including active work in China, Korea, India, and Russia).
Of over 300 undergraduate programs in the US, HSLS at OU is in the top 8%, according to the latest Gourman Report. The School is ranked first in the state of Ohio, the state with more programs in our field than any other state except New York.
Both the MA and AuD programs are listed in the top 50 graduate programs in their disciplines by US News and World Report.
The School is accredited in both audiology and speech-language pathology through ASHA.
HSLS clinical and research programs address key underserved populations, including elderly people, speakers of tonal languages, people in Appalachia, and people with disabilities and chronic health conditions.
The School has a longstanding reputation for provision of quality clinical services to people of all ages in nine counties in Southern Ohio, a region where services would otherwise be unavailable, including expert clinical consultations, regional newborn hearing screenings, central auditory processing testing in the schools, free community hearing screenings, free diagnostic services through clinical research, pioneering work in dysphagia management in area hospitals, individualized ESL services, provision of service models for the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Department of Education, and numerous service-learning and volunteer projects throughout the region.
The School has a rich track record of active interdisciplinary engagement, including work with the Appalachian Rural Health Institute (ARHI), ARHI Diabetes Research Initiative, Edison Biotechnology Institute, Institute for the Empirical Study of Language, GRID Lab, every one of the colleges on our campus, and each of the schools in CHHS.