Educational Audiology – (M.Sc.)

Contents

Course length

Part-time: 2 - 5 years

The MSc in Educational Audiology is designed for qualified and experienced teachers of the deaf (or professionals in a field related to the education and/or audiological management of hearing-impaired children). It will develop your existing professional practice in audiology to a more exacting level of competence. The course is designed to provide sufficient theoretical knowledge and practical expertise to enable successful candidates to work within educational provision for the hearing impaired as educational audiologists who may provide the sole point of reference within a service, school or hospital. It is intended to produce well-motivated, enthusiastic and well-informed practitioners who can maximise the use of residual hearing in children and young people, irrespective of setting or phase of education.

The MSc will develop professional skills, but will also promote reflection on the principles underlying particular practices in audiology. We aim to help you become able to support the families of hearing-impaired children and engage in fruitful professional dialogue with other specialists working in related fields (eg clinical audiologists, ear nose and throat consultants and their staff, educational psychologists and speech therapists). It is also critical, in the light of the 1981 Education Act, 1988 Education Reform Act and the 1993 Education Act, that you become able to work constructively alongside classroom teachers in mainstream schools, non-teaching assistants and advisers/co-ordinators working in the special educational needs area.

You will undertake clinical placements in a variety of audiological settings. These will include second and third tier paediatric audiology clinics and cochlear implant centres. Additional placements will be made available with audiologists recognised by the British Association of Educational Audiologists as offering appropriate extra-clinical experience within services for hearing-impaired children. All students involved in clinical placements will be eligible for membership of the British Association of Educational Audiologists, and the British Society of Audiology.

Although the main focus of the course is the preparation of audiologists to work with pupils of school age, time will be spent discussing issues of interest to audiologists working in pre-school and post-16 sectors. We will also be looking at the prospective role of audiological professionals in response to the new challenges of neonatal screening. Experience in these areas will be given in the assessment centre of the Mary Hare School.

The modules:

* Physics of Sound and Acoustics and Speech Production is concerned with the nature of sound as a form of energy, the sounds produced by the speech articulators and the acoustic features that are specific to the phonetic elements within a spoken utterance, and the anatomical and physiological basis of speech production.
* Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of Hearing is concerned with the anatomy and physiology of the auditory system, and the pathology and aetiology of the outer, middle and inner ear.
* Paediatric Audiology: Assessment, Instrumentation and Calibration is concerned with screening and diagnostic procedures, and calibration, application and routine management of audiological equipment.
* Development and Psychology of Hearing is concerned with the development of auditory and speech perception, and the psychological properties of sound and their implications for educational audiology.
* Hearing Aid Systems and Paediatric Habilitation is concerned with personal and educational hearing aids, the role of cochlear implants, the scope of assistive devices and their evaluation in the field.
* Habilitation, Early Linguistics and Communication is concerned with early child development and the potential effects of hearing impairment, the difference between linguistic delay and linguistic disorder, the scope of psychological assessment and its role in the management of hearing-impaired children, the nature of the habilitation process and the role of family support. Issues related to the Every Child Matters agenda and integrated working practices are a key focus.
* Research Methods is concerned with experimental design, data analysis and evaluation. It will develop your knowledge of a range of research approaches, methods and techniques and consider ethics in educational/audiological research.

The award of the MSc involves successful completion of all modules and the practical skills and theory assessments, plus the completion of a research methods module and dissertation in Year 3. An exit point is available at the end of Year 2, following successful completion of all Year 1 and Year 2 modules, for those wishing to take the award at the Diploma stage.

In addition, for those wishing to update their skills and/or to supplement their existing qualifications, individual modules can be taken independently within one or two academic years according to need.

As our courses are reviewed regularly, course content and module choices may change from the details given here.