Ph.D. with a Concentration in Clinical Audiology

While the Au.D. degree prepares individuals to enter clinical practice, the Ph.D. program a concentration in clinical audiology (i.e., the clinical certification option) prepares students to be both clinical audiologists and academicians. Students will obtain the clinical skills necessary for the professional practice of audiology, as well as the research and scholarship skills required for a career in academia. Pertinent experiences in the doctoral program include didactic and clinical course work in audiology; study of the basic methods of scientific investigation; additional study in another field that is related to the field of audiology; and experience in the activities that are most typical of persons holding the Ph.D. degree (e.g., research and writing). The Ph.D. program with the clinical certification option is fully accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and students graduating from the program will meet the academic and clinical requirements for the ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competency in Audiology (CCC-A).

It is anticipated that this degree program will take students four to five years to complete. The first three years will be in residence at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with students completing didactic course work, pre-dissertation research experiences, and both on- and off-campus clinical rotations. During the fourth year of the program students will be placed in an intensive off-campus residency. The dissertation will be completed during Years 4 and 5.

Applicants are not required to have an undergraduate degree in communication sciences and disorders, but they must show evidence of having taken course work in math, science, social science, basic human communication process and speech-language disorders. Applicants with an undergraduate degree in a major other than communication sciences and disorders must complete the same required prerequisite course work listed under prerequisites for the Au.D. program.

Curriculum

Students enrolled in the Ph.D. program with a concentration in clinical audiology (i.e., the clinical tract option) are required to complete the same set of core academic and clinical courses in Audiology as is required of students in the Au.D. program. In addition, individuals in the Ph.D. program with a concentration in clinical audiology must complete a minimum of 15 credits of minor-area course work. The minor area consists of a clearly-defined area of study that is outside the Department of Communication Disorders. It may consist of courses entirely within another department, or it may consist of courses from different departments that conform to a defined area of study. In addition, students must also complete Comm-Dis 630 (Research in CD) and 9 credits of statistics/research design course work outside of the department.

Additional Requirements:

Teaching Experience (no credit)

Prior to completion of the dissertation, the student must either 1) teach one undergraduate course in the Department of Communication Disorders, or 2) participate in the team teaching of two courses in the Department of Communication Disorders. In either case, the student will complete the teaching experience requirement under the close supervision and mentorship of a faculty member within the Department of Communication Disorders.

Comprehensive Examination

At the completion of the majority of course work, the Ph.D. candidate will be required to take a comprehensive examination consisting of a written test followed by an oral defense. The dissertation is undertaken following successful completion of the comprehensive examination and the formal appointment of a dissertation committee by the Dean of the Graduate School upon the recommendation of the Graduate Program Director.

Doctoral Dissertation

A dissertation prospectus must be accepted by the student's dissertation committee and submitted to the Graduate School prior to the start of the dissertation work, and the completed dissertation must be defended in the form of an oral committee examination conducted by the student's committee prior to the submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate School.

Information about advising, degree requirements, examinations and the dissertation process can be found in the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program information.