Speech and Hearing Sciences

Do you want to earn the skills needed to help others express themselves? Do you want to prepare for an advanced degree toward becoming a speech-language pathologist?

The undergraduate program in speech and hearing sciences is a pre-professional degree, which emphasizes the normal processes of speech, hearing and language and allows you to explore other academic areas of interest.

Since the master's degree is the minimum level of preparation for persons seeking professional careers in this field, the BS degree does not qualify you to work professionally, but is designed to prepare you for graduate studies. After you earn a master's degree, you can choose to work as a trained professional who diagnoses and treats people who are unable to communicate effectively.

You would apply to the BS in speech and hearing sciences in the spring semester of your sophomore year. During your junior and senior year, you will learn about phonetics, language development, anatomy of the speech and respiratory mechanism, phonology and articulation, speech science, hearing science, audiology, aural rehabilitation, and neural processing in speech and language. During your career as a speech-language pathologist, you will have maximum patient contact and must be able to communicate effectively with individuals with disabilities. You must have a sincere interest in the handicapped population, with particular interest in communication problems.

ECU Advantage

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders has gained national attention in groundbreaking research. Our faculty's findings have led to the development of devices and methods that have made a difference for people living with speech-language conditions.

The College of Allied Health Sciences is the largest university-based allied-health provider in the state of North Carolina. The college has nine departments, Addictions and Rehabilitation Studies, Clinical Laboratory Science, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Health Services and Information Management, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Physician Assistant Studies, and offers degrees on the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels.

Delivering a comprehensive professional education that will prepare allied health graduates to make a difference in the health of the region, state, and nation was the primary reason for the creation of the College of Allied Health Sciences and its departments. Fueled by the growth and aging of our population, the demand for these highly skilled specialists is expected to greatly increase as health care continues to be a priority for our citizens.