Intrduction to Speech and Hearing Sciences

The course’s scope is to provide fundamental knowledge about speech and hearing which will foster a deeper understanding of the processes of human communication in the advanced courses of the specialized curriculum. Speech reception, speech perception, language understanding along with speech and language production comprise the basic functions of communication. Therefore, the special processes in the brain for speech and hearing, the peripheral speech and hearing systems, the ways and conditions of audition in the environment and the special features of the speaker’s message constitute valuable knowledge for persons who intend to educate others via verbal or other communication modes. The topics discussed incorporate elements of linguistics and linguistic theory, acoustics and phonetics, anatomy and physiology, language representation in the brain, psychoacoustics and speech perception, models of language processing and speech and language development.

Objectives

not available

Prerequisites

not available

Syllabus

1. Definitions and classification of communication, speech, language and hearing 2. Language structure and characteristics 3. Relation between language and thought 4. Speech structure and characteristics 5. Description of the peripheral systems of speech and hearing 6. Organization and processes of speech and hearing in the brain 7. Listening, speech perception and psychoacoustics 8. Models of language processing 9. Language development 10. Phonological development