Summer 2020 News & Highlights from the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences

The University of Minnesota’s Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences is committed to eliminating systemic racism, both locally and worldwide. Our department, along with the entire University of Minnesota, condemns racism, bigotry, and hatred. The killing of George Floyd, a member of our Minnesota community, has laid bare the long-standing racism in our society to those who weren’t already experiencing it on a daily basis themselves. It prompts us to affirm and build upon our commitment to ensure meaningful change within our classrooms, department, college, university, communities, professions, and nation.  We pledge to do our part in a collective effort to eradicate racism, bigotry, and hatred of all kinds.

Assistant Professor Matt Winn unwraps the impact hearing loss has not only on methods of communication, but also one's overall quality of life through his research on pupil dilation and cochlear implants.

Our ability to understand speech has always been subject to how well we hear. But can cultural, social, and behavioral linguistic differences (within a language) impact how well we hear and understand? Professor Benjamin Munson and Dr. Alayo Tripp are studying the impact of race-based biases on how easily older people understand the speech of younger people.