What is the academic and clinical preparation a speech-language pathologist receives in the area of voice?

1. What NCVS investigators did to find an answer
2. What we learned
3. Why we asked the question and how the information can be used, and
4. How to find out more

What we did to find an answer
In May 1994, we mailed a survey to each of the 215 graduate programs in speech-language pathology registered with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). The survey included a number of questions about graduate training in the area of voice and voice disorders. In January 1999, we again obtained mailing addresses for the graduate programs registered with ASHA and sent identical surveys to those 207 programs. The second survey was conducted to determine if any academic trends could be detected in the five-year interval.

Sixty-nine (or 32 percent) of the 1994 surveys were completed. Seventy-one (or 34 percent) of the 1999 surveys were returned.

What We Learned
Here are selected results that particularly piqued our interest:

• Currently, about 10 percent of all graduate students in speech-language pathology state that they have an interest in voice.
• Courses entirely devoted to voice production are rare (7 percent in 1999 and 3 percent in 1994). Most programs offer voice production information in combination with coursework in voice disorders, speech science, or anatomy and physiology classes.
• About one-third of the programs (in 1994 and 1999) have no requirement for coursework in voice production.
• Almost all programs (70 of 71 programs in 1999 and 69 of 69 in 1994) offer coursework in the area of voice disorders.
• About one-third of all programs across both time periods have no requirement that their master's students take credit hours in voice disorders.
• Roughly one-third of the students from programs surveyed (27 percent in 1999 and 34 percent in 1994) could graduate without any clinical voice experience.
• However, almost all students (in both time periods) do receive some clinical exposure to voice patients.
• In general, the education of speech-language pathologists in the area of voice changed little between 1994 and 1999.

Why we asked the question and how the results can be used
As a provider of continuing education in the area of voice, NCVS investigators have an obvious interest in speech-language pathologists' baseline knowledge of voice. In the current academic climate, it appears that many new graduates have limited exposure to voice production and voice disorders and may have no experience with voice clients.

Obtaining skills necessary to successfully treat voice clients, then, is often dependent on post-graduate experiences.

A number of strategies have been implemented by various organizations for attainment of these skills: clinical fellowships that include experiences with voice clients, continuing education initiatives at national meetings, and specialty tracks in speech-language pathology programs.

Based in part on the survey findings, the NCVS developed a unique, intensive summer program, the Summer Vocology Institute. The SVI provides vocology training to two groups: (1) post-graduates who want to increase their knowledge of voice, and (2) graduate students in speech-language pathology programs with limited offerings in voice. Participants can earn nine graduate credits of coursework in voice production, instrumentation, habilitation and an elective voice course.

How To Find Out More
Only a brief treatment of the survey findings is reported here. A complete and formalized description of the methodology, collected data and discussion appears in print as follows:

Van Mersbergen, M, Ostrem, J, and Titze, I. Preparation of the Speech-Language Pathologist Specializing in Voice: An Educational Study Journal of Voice 2001;15(2)237-250.

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