Home > Research > Language and Health

Language and Health

Language difficulties occur across the lifespan, from children with developmental language and learning disorders, to adults experiencing age-related hearing loss or language problems after stroke.

Researchers in Hearing and Speech Sciences, Psychology, and Linguistics are investigating problems and treatments relating to hearing, speech perception and production, language understanding and use in adults and children. 

Research spotlight: How does concussion affect language skills?  
Sports-related concussions can cause physical, cognitive and behavioral symptoms. Researchers in the Departments of Hearing and Speech Sciences and Linguistics (Rochelle Newman, Nan Ratner, Kristin Slawson and Andrea Zukowski) are researching how concussion impacts language skills in children and adolescents, how to effectively assess children’s language skills at baseline and following a head injury, and whether carefully-designed language testing might provide a valuable diagnostic measure as well as a measure of recovery from concussion. Keith Lovett, CC-BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Other research focuses include autism spectrum disorders, aphasia, cochlear implant users, hearing loss in older adults, and speech fluency (e.g. research on stuttering therapies).