Instructor: Linda Thibodeau, Ph.D., CCC/A, CCC/SLP
Office: J.108
Office Hours: M 12:00 – 1:00 pm or by appointment
Phone: AHRC: 214-905-3108, UTD: 972-883-2425
E-Mail: thib@utdallas.edu
WWW: www.utdallas.edu/~thib

Laboratory Component: Thursdays, 1:00 - 3:45 pm. Hearing Aid Lab in the Advanced Hearing Research Center. Half of the class will participate in the HA lab from 1:00 - 2:15 pm and the other half will participate from 2:30-3:45. 

Course Objectives:
Students will learn the principles underlying soundfield acoustics and calibration, earmold acoustics, speech perception in persons with hearing impairment, and hearing aid fitting methods.

Course Requirements:
1) Prerequisites: 6304 (Adv. Clinical Audiology)

2) Readings: Readings will be assigned from various journals and and two texts:

        Valente, M., Hosford-Dunn, H., Roeser, R. (2000). Audiology                     Treatment. New York: Thieme.
        Dillon, H. (2001). Hearing Aids. New York: Thieme. 

3) Evaluation Procedures:

    a) Exams

    Midterm (200 pts): There will be a midterm (short-answer, multiple choice, and short essay questions). In addition, there will be a ten- minute practical exam involving equipment and procedures related to the course material. DATE:___________

    Final Exam (300 pts): The comprehensive final will be of the same format (including a fifteen minute practical exam). DATE:__________

b) Hearing Aid Fitting (200 pts):

During the final two class sessions, you will be performing a hearing aid fitting. Although you will be working with a partner, you each will submit a report of the hearing aid fitting. The report will be graded on accuracy of information, completeness of the evaluation, and grammar/spelling/ punctuation.

c) Class Participation (300 pts):

You will maintain a log of your class participation (see last page) which must be submitted at the final exam and include the following:

Check quizzes, each worth 10 points. These short-answer quizzes are designed to assess understanding of critical information from the previous and current class. These will be graded during class.

Reading Reviews (RR), each worth 20 points. There will be opportunities each class period for students to orally present an issue from the readings for discussion. This includes a brief review of the topic followed by how the information relates to an observation in the clinic, other course information, or other information in the readings. There will be a maximum of 5 RRs per class and 5 total per student. These will be documented by one-page summaries including page reference in the readings and relationship to class/clinic observation.

Homework assignments, each worth 10 points. These are designed to strengthen the concepts presented in class and must be turned in at the beginning of class on the due date to check for completion. These will be graded in class.

5) Assigning the Final Grade:

The maximum total point score is 1000.
Total points scores above 900 are generally A's, above 800 are generally B's, and above 700 C's.

Requirements for an A:
Demonstrate outstanding performance in the class, complete a class presentation, and achieve at least B-performance (240 points) on the final and 900 total points in the class.

Requirements for a B:
Demonstrate above average performance in the class and achieve at least C performance (210 points) on the final and 800 total points in the class.

6) Additional Information:

    a) You will have two formal opportunities to evaluate this course; near the middle of the semester and at the end. If you have concerns at other times, please drop a note in my mailbox or come by to see me.

    b) Extensions, make-up exams and incompletes will be given only in extenuating circumstances. They require written verification of the circumstances and must be requested in writing prior to the due dates.

    c) If you require any modification to the class activities including lectures, discussions, exams, and assignments in order to accommodate specific learning needs, please notify me by the end of the first week of class in person or by email and provide documentation. I will be happy to make whatever arrangements are needed to facilitate learning and participation in the class.

APPROXIMATE COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction & Overview

History of Amplification  

Factors in Soundfield Acoustics

I.      Person *

II.     Stimuli

III.    Room

IV.    System

V.     Calibration *

Defining the Auditory Area

I.      Stimuli

II.     Response/Instructions

III.    Transducer *

IV.    Procedure

V.     Reliability of UCL

VI.    Validity of UCL

Hearing Aid Characteristics

I.      Types of Aids

II.     Basic Components

III.    Options-Upfront Decisions

IV.    Electroacoustic Characteristics *

Earmold Acoustics

I.      Acoustic Impedance

II.     Acoustic Resonance

III.    Impact of varying Impedance and Resonance *

Hearing Aid Selection

I.      Selection of the Hearing Aid Candidate

II.     Pre-selection of the Hearing Aid *

III.    Evaluation of the Performance with the Hearing Aid *

IV.    Validation of the Selection *

*These topics have associated labs

CLASS PARTICIPATION LOG
AUD 7321 Theories of Amplification
300 points max
Due at the Final Exam

Check Quizzes (attach all Quizzes)

Date                    Score

Reading Reviews (attach one page summaries)

Date     Topic

Homework (attach all homework)

Date      Topic

TOTAL CLASS PARTICIPATION POINTS __________________