For more than 30 years, Syracuse University students have been learning from
Douglas Church. The Baldwinsville resident was among the first clients of the
Gebbie
Speech-Language-Hearing Clinics, the training facility that is part of the Department
of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CS&D) in SU's
College of Arts and
Sciences.
Located at 805 University Ave., the Gebbie Clinics offers a full-range of diagnostic,
therapy and treatment options for children and adults with speech-language and
hearing difficulties. During Church's most recent visit to the Gebbie Audiology Clinic,
Allison Soll, a senior in The College of Arts and Sciences, evaluated his hearing under
the supervision of Audiology Clinic Director Joseph Pellegrino.
"I enjoy working with the students," Church says. "They learn by asking me
questions, and I try to help them understand how to work with people who have
hearing problems-like don't talk too fast and face the person when you are
speaking."
Church lost all hearing in his left ear after a series of surgeries to remove an acoustic
neuroma, a non-malignant tumor of the auditory nerve. He became a client of the
Gebbie Clinics after his final surgery in 1970. He has progressive hearing loss in the
right ear and wears a hearing aid. Soll completed a series of diagnostic tests on
Church during his March visit to determine whether his hearing had deteriorated and
to evaluate the effectiveness of his hearing aid so his treatment could be adjusted.
The 78-year-old Church has been through the tests so many times that he can gently
lead students through the steps. "I was a student instructor at Cornell University
back in the 1950s," he says. "Later, as a farm machinery dealer, I taught many
farmers how to do things; and now I teach students at the clinic. I appreciate
teaching. I should have been a teacher." Church graduated from Cornell in 1952 with
a degree in agricultural engineering.
SU's undergraduate program in communication sciences and disorders prepares
students for graduate-level professional training in either speech-language pathology
or audiology. CS&D also offers master's and Ph.D. programs in speech-language
pathology and a doctor of audiology program. Graduate and undergraduate
students work at the Gebbie Clinics under the direct supervision of speech-language
pathologists and audiologists licensed by the New York State Department of
Education and certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
"The Gebbie Clinics is a living, learning laboratory where students interact with
clients and clients become interested in the students," Pellegrino says. "Our clients
are very patient with us."
Soll says the opportunity to work at the Gebbie Clinics as part of the CS&D program
drew her to SU. "This program gives students a lot of opportunities to apply what we
learn in the classroom to a real-world setting, which a lot of schools don't offer," she
says. "When you can actually see the things you are learning about in class, it all just
clicks. It's a better way to learn." Soll plans to pursue a graduate degree in audiology.
Students majoring in communication sciences and disorders also have opportunities
to work in faculty research labs. Soll worked with assistant professor Kathy Vander
Werff researching speech-evoked auditory brain stem responses. "My research
experience allowed me to gain in-depth knowledge that I would not have obtained in
my classes," Soll says. "The experience also gave me a preview of what I will be doing
in graduate school."
Soll has focused on a career in the communication sciences since high school. She was
born with atresia-microtia, a malfunction of the external ear and the middle ear,
which resulted in hearing loss in her right ear. "I always knew I wanted to do
something in the field," Soll says. "I originally thought about becoming a surgeon,
but then decided to pursue a career in audiology."
As part of her undergraduate experience, Soll did a summer internship at the New
York Eye and Ear Infirmary in New York City. She enjoys working with children
and adults, but believes she will eventually specialize in pediatrics. "After my
internship, I realized that I prefer working with children, even though they can be
more challenging," Soll says. "But, I think it's easier for me to relate to children with
hearing loss because I'm going through the same things they are."
