The Science of Speech and Sound

Tucked up next to Sehome Arboretum on a quiet side of south campus is one of the most robust health services available in the state: the three clinics of Western’s Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department.

The clinics — aural rehabilitation, speech-language, and hearing — provide a wide variety of no-cost services, including stuttering therapy, voice therapy, gender-affirming voice care, expressive and receptive language evaluations and treatment, cognitive therapy, and group and individual therapy for aphasia. The audiology clinic offers full diagnostic hearing evaluations, hearing aids, balance assessments and much more all performed by WWU student clinicians supervised by licensed providers at no cost to the patient.

The clinics also provide students a training ground for a profoundly rewarding career.

“These opportunities provide invaluable hands-on experiences that truly prepare us for professional practice in this field,” says Savannah Burdick, a third-year student in the Clinical Doctorate in Audiology Program.

“For a patient to regain their voice is so meaningful,” says Speech- Language Clinic Director Lesley Stephens. “We had a client who came to therapy and after receiving care was able to read a birthday card out loud for the first time.”

The clinics also offer services that are rare at a private clinic: “We are one of the few clinics in the country that has aural rehabilitation in addition to speech-language and audiology services,” says Director of Audiology Anna Diedesch.

The services sometimes overlap. Having all therapeutic disciplines, diagnostics and practical maintenance housed together makes for a better patient experience. For example, hearing loss in children can require speech and language therapy or aural therapy in addition to audiology services and other therapeutic services.

The clinics are busy, too. In 2024- 25, they saw 459 patients in the Audiology Hearing Clinic, 154 patients with 2,549 visits in the Speech- Language Clinic, and 22 patients with 329 visits in the Aural Rehabilitation Clinic. While the clinic provides services at no cost to patients, donations are accepted and appreciated.

As part of the Hearing Clinic’s Hearing Aid Bank Program, 19 hearing aids were fit at no cost to the patient; additionally, more patients supported the clinic further by purchasing 21 hearing aids.

The clinics provide these services to educate the next generation of speech-language pathologists and audiologists. WWU students receive professional training, highly skilled instruction and exceptional career pathways. In addition to bachelor’s, post-bac and master’s programs, the department offers the state’s only clinical doctorate in audiology.

“Our students graduate into a wide variety of careers, including clinics, schools, hospitals, research and even their own practice,” says Hearing Clinic Director Andrea Reed.

Patient Jeanette Stauffer-Schorr lost her hearing in her left ear when she was 9 after diving off a high-dive. She started using hearing aids as an older adult but couldn’t afford to upgrade them. 

Then two years ago at the Bellingham Senior Center, a friend told her about the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department. 

She set up an appointment immediately, though she wasn’t sure what to expect.

“The clinic was far more professional than I expected,” said Stauffer-Schorr. “The staff and students were so invested in figuring out what was causing my hearing loss and which aid I would need. They have outstanding diagnostic hearing tests and excellent advice.”

While audiology is typically a two- or three-visit process, patients like Bob Burns in the Hearing Clinic and Aural Rehabilitation Clinic receive ongoing care over several months. Burns had struggled with hearing throughout his life.

“I had severe ear infections as a kid, and there were no antibiotic treatments back then, so they punctured the eardrum,” he says.

After repeated treatments in both ears, Burns was fully deaf in his left ear and had damaged hearing in his right. Over time, he had adapted by reading lips and guessing what people were saying to him.

Though Burns didn’t initially test to be a candidate for a cochlear implant, Melinda Bryan, an audiologist at Western, advocated with Burns’ ear, nose and throat specialist for him to receive one. Doug Sladen, a now-retired audiologist from WWU, followed up with an additional recommendation. Their advocacy persuaded his ENT to approve an implant, and he’s been happy with it ever since.

“Melinda Bryan should be nominated for sainthood,” Burns says. “Without her, I wouldn’t have qualified for an implant. The second my ENT saw Dr. Sladen’s additional letter of recommendation, I was approved for surgery. I couldn’t ask for better support or better help.”

Patients at the clinic come from all age groups, from infants to centenarians, all different geographic areas of Whatcom, Skagit and beyond, and all communities.

“I’m especially proud of our service to the local tribes,” Diedesch says. “That’s been an important part of our work.”

Audiology is consistently considered one of the medical fields with the highest rate of satisfaction among its practitioners.

“The nice thing about what we do is that no one who comes into our clinic leaves worse off,” Reed says. “Everyone leaves either the same as they are, or much better off. That makes for such a satisfying career for us, and for our students who are training in this field.”