Technology is currently in use or being developed that can track how, where and when we engage with our surroundings. We often think about using this technology while engaging with our visual world. Yet, access to our hearing world is a necessity when communicating through spoken language. Let’s explore how we can make use of technology to make listening accessible for all.

In the “Access to Listening” Hackathon we are bringing scientists, developers, individuals experiencing problems with speech perception, students and anyone who is excited about being part of a community of thinkers and innovators and enthusiasts together to come up with the next generation of approaches to enhance communication for all.

Interested in thinking out of the box and coming up with awesome ideas of using mainstream technologies for engaged listening? Think virtual and augmented reality for engaged listening.

No matter your background, we want you for a day of fun developing non-stigmatizing approaches to hearing loss and other communication problems.

When: Tuesday, November 15, 9:30am – 5pm
Where: Dickson Hall, Cohen Lounge
Goal: to come up with creative and innovative uses of current technological advances for project development in collaboration with the University of Twente, the Netherlands.

Participants will be divided in smaller groups to brainstorm and develop innovative technological advances. The best idea(s) will be presented to the Behavioral Management and Social Sciences labs of the University of Twente for further exploration and development.

Come be part of an exciting solution promoting the health and well-being for all.

The project, born through a conversation and partnership with , assistant professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department, and Dr. Susanna Block, a pediatrician and volunteer at a medical clinic serving migrant families in Matamoros, Mexico, sought to find a way to support migrant parents worried about their children’s language development.

This project was designed to allow students to increase their knowledge of working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities in challenging circumstances and demonstrate for students the potential roles SLPs can play in supporting language and literacy skills in vulnerable communities.

Research has shown that exposing children to age-appropriate books and providing children the opportunity to engage in interactive shared book reading helps them to not only develop oral language skills more quickly but also develop the necessary foundation to learn to read. Shared book reading also enhances the bond between caregivers and children and protects children from the negative impacts of stress.

However, the reality is that many parents lack the knowledge and resources needed to effectively read with their children and a staggering number of children do not have access to books at all. This issue is prevalent both locally and internationally but is especially prominent on the Mexico-United States border where thousands of migrants, including mothers and young children, are seeking asylum from their home countries.

In partnership with colleagues and , Dr. Sylvan involved graduate students enrolled in courses on children’s language disorders both in the 0-5 population () and the school-aged population () in the project to conduct research about the challenges that families from at-risk populations faced related to language development and strategies for training parents on interactive book reading techniques.

Based on their research, students in these two classes created brochures with general tips for language and literacy development and informational sheets about interactive book reading. Students also developed curated bookmarks with age appropriate vocabulary and comprehension questions in three different age brackets (0-2, 3-5,and 5-8 years old).

Dr. Becker, who embedded this project in CSND 583, remarked that, “students seemed to welcome the opportunity to embed a project in a graduate course which created materials for an authentic purpose and had the potential to be used in a meaningful way.”

Montclair State’s chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (MSSLHA) partnered on this project by collecting books and fundraising money to buy specific books to support this project.  Rosemary DeStephan, the staff advisor of MSSLHA, remarked, “I couldn’t think of a better program and cause to be part of. Providing literacy resources to these children and families will promote language, academic and cognitive growth in a fun and engaging way.”

Dr. Sylvan worked with her graduate assistants to develop a website specific to this program where parents could access digital books with guided questions to expand their access to books.

The initial pilot of the project was carried out in March of 2022 when Dr. Block visited the U.S.-Mexico border to volunteer at a medical clinic, where she helped to distribute the more than 250 children’s books that were collected in addition to resource materials created by the graduate students and assistants.

Recognizing the need for access to books and information about shared book reading reaches far beyond the U.S.-Mexico border, Dr. Sylvan and her students collected and distributed nearly four hundred books to Mercer Street Friends, a local organization located in Trenton, New Jersey, that provides support to children, families, and communities living in poverty.

A trunk load of books collected by Dr. Sylvan and students for distribution by Mercer Street Friends in Trenton, NJ.

Karen Hoppock, the director of Parenting and Adult Services at Mercer Street Friends, noted that the donation of books has a huge impact on the children.  “Our families love receiving books to read to their children; for some of them it is the first time they may have seen or heard children’s stories.”

Upon completion of the project and course, Brianna Garcia, a graduate student in the speech-language pathology program, reflected upon the experience. “Going forward in my work as a future speech-language pathologist (SLP), this project will always remind me that there will always be children and families that rely on us to help them succeed,” she said.

“Whether these families are on a difficult journey across the US-Mexico border to seek refuge, have low socioeconomic status, or have cultural differences that may affect their children’s language and literacy skills, the knowledge and tools SLPs have can make all the difference in how they succeed.”

“This project influenced me to want to be more involved in the community and engage with families, as they play an important role in the child’s communication development,” explained student Courtney Lockhart. “Every child should have access to literacy resources and resources that can promote their overall communication.”

Following the success of the initial pilot of distributing books and information in the clinic in Matamoros and Mercer Street Friends, Dr. Sylvan plans to continue this project to provide even more children with access to books and more family information about the importance and impact of interactive book reading and continue to involve graduate-level classes and student clubs as appropriate.

“It is exciting to identify new partnerships and develop new ideas related to spreading the word about the impact of interactive book reading,” says Dr. Sylvan. She is in the process of promoting the idea of ‘reading prescription’ to be part of routine medical visits and is partnering with an NGO at the US-Mexico border to develop dedicated spaces to share children’s books in playgrounds for refugee children.

Through these ongoing and future projects, students completing their master’s degree in speech-language pathology at Montclair State will continue to have the opportunity to see how both their expertise and energy can be harnessed to serve a greater need in the community related to language and literacy development.

Nearby, first-year audiology student Grace Gleba works to get a 4-year-old boy to play a similar game as she checks his hearing. “If you hear a beep, throw the bean bag in the bucket, okay?” Gleba instructs him.

Jowel holds the bean bag to his left ear. But after the beep, nothing.

“Did you hear the beep?” He nods.

“Was it this ear or this ear?” Gleba asks, pointing to the red and blue headphones he’s wearing. He points to one ear, then the other. Audiology Clinic Director Faith Mogila steps in to help, challenging the boy to beat her at tossing the bean bag into the bucket. They continue working with him, ultimately determining that he can hear, he’s just quite shy. Jowel moves on to an otoscopic examination with first-year audiology student Max St. Germain.

A student in Newark holds a block to her ear while listening for a “beep” through headphones.

In all, on this day about 40 Roselle children will have their hearing screened using the audiometer and a visual ear examination with an otoscope. In addition, they will undergo an otoacoustic emission test, which involves placing a tiny device in the ear that emits sound and records an echo, measuring cochlear function. It’s commonly used with babies and small children because it doesn’t require a behavioral response from them.

The four Montclair students in Roselle are among 13 audiology doctoral students dispatched to three Early Head Start and Head Start programs run by The Leaguers, the oldest incorporated African American social service agency in New Jersey. The nonprofit organization provides services to 1,700 low-income families in Essex and Union counties. The hearing screenings, part of a partnership with the New Jersey Department of Health’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, provides a public service and gives audiology students hands-on experience. Audiology students in the University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders also will provide hearing screenings to athletes participating in the Special Olympics New Jersey Summer Games in Ewing Township in mid-June.

A child in Newark holds a toy elephant to his forehead. He has been instructed by a Montclair audiology doctoral student to connect the alphabet toy elephant to another elephant every time he hears a tone from the headphones. Giving the child an interesting game enhances his ability to listen even when the sounds are very soft.

On this day, screenings are also taking place in Irvington and Newark – the same day news of Mattel’s release of a new Barbie with hearing aids was making the rounds among the students. The activities used during the screenings are meant to make the assessments more entertaining and less scary for children. Audiology students were challenged to come up with new age-appropriate activities that could be used to condition a child from 3-5 years of age. Gleba’s idea for the mouse-and-cookie activity, sparked by a trip to her mother’s basement where her mom still keeps all of her childhood toys, was approved for use. In fact, it was her stuffed mouse that was used at the Roselle school. At The Leaguers school in Newark, five Montclair students used toy elephants and building blocks to engage the children.

Montclair Audiology Clinical Professor Alexis Rooney examines a student’s ear with an otoscope at a Newark school.

Second-year audiology student Sean Kleczkowski is conducting his first screening of young children in a preschool setting. “It’s really important to screen their hearing because they may be missing learning in class and not even know it,” Kleczkowski says.

While children are screened as newborns, as required by law, hearing issues can still develop. “They could have a late onset [or progressive] hearing loss,” Kleczkowski says. “Incidents of hearing loss can double between birth and age 6, so it’s crucial that we do these screenings.”

Ivonne Jaramillo, a health and nutrition specialist with The Leaguers, said she and other specialists typically travel to schools to do hearing and vision screenings at the beginning of the school year, as required by the school, but that having an additional follow-up screening is also good. “It’s important because we want early intervention,” Jaramillo says. “Not being able to hear could interfere with school productivity.”

Second-year audiology student Cindy Fernandez tests a Newark child’s hearing using an audiometer.

Pre-K teacher Mariam Gonzales monitors the proceedings as some of her preschoolers get tested while others await their turn. She’s optimistic that they will pass the screening. “I haven’t had any problems with them not hearing me in the classroom,” she says.

Parents, who provided consent for the screenings, will receive letters explaining their children’s results. Any student who doesn’t pass the screening will be referred to their pediatrician and an audiologist in their area. The parents of all the children tested will also receive literature explaining the importance of screening and signs of normal speech and language development.

Third year audiology student Rosie Ovadia places a tiny device in a Newark student’s ear for an otoacoustic emission test, which determines cochlear function.

At The Leaguers’ Early Head Start and Head Start programs in downtown Newark, first-year audiology student Vanessa Coppola says she enjoyed testing the children, “It was a lot of kids and a lot of experience screening children.” Some, she says, will need follow-up testing.

Nicole Genser asks a child whether he heard a beep in his left ear; he holds an elephant to his ear and tosses it into a basket upon hearing a beep.

While Balser, second-year student Cindy Fernandez and third-year student Rosie Ovadia had tested young children before, more often than not these screenings are the first opportunity for Montclair audiology students to screen children, says Mogila.

At Montclair’s audiology clinic, the students work mostly with adults who are in a soundproof booth. At the Newark school, “it was interesting,” says Nicole Genser, a first-year student. “We had to think about the best way to set it all out in terms of environment and noise. The kids were great.”

Professor Maryrose McInerney assists audiology student Alyssa Bonapace, in conducting a otoacoustic emission test on a young student in Newark.

Professor Joan Besing, director of Clinical Graduate Programs in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, says going to schools sometimes affords Montclair students new experiences. “There were some students who had tubes in their ears, our students hadn’t seen that before. It provides them with hands-on experience so that they become more comfortable.”

There’s also the added bonus of giving back while also learning. “It’s really rewarding to be able to do screenings for one’s community,” says Fernandez. “We’re applying our knowledge for the better good.”

Vanessa Coppola tests a student in Newark.

Rosie Ovadia examines a child’s eardrum.

A child places toys into a container, indicating that she’s heard a beep through her headphones during a hearing exam.

Cindy Fernandez tests a student’s hearing.

To learn more about the doctorate of audiology program visit Audiology.

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez. Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters.

Dave loves books. He spent 30 years as a high-level executive editor at a preeminent New York publishing house but aphasia, resulting from the first of multiple strokes, brought his career – and his ability to read – to an abrupt end.

“Seven years ago was my first (stroke)…then a year ago, I had two and three,” he says. With hard work and lots of therapy, Dave is reading again, albeit slowly. Once a week, he travels from his home in Little Falls to ����vlog’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders clinic in Bloomfield to participate in the Aphasia Book Club. As the name implies, the majority of those in the club have aphasia or, as member Amelia puts it, a “language problem,” that can be brought on by strokes, head injuries, brain tumors or infections.

Today, the group, which also includes Kim, who had a stroke in 2013, is discussing its current book selection: The Beekeeper of Aleppo, a novel by Christy Lefteri about a couple’s journey to Britain to escape war in their native Syria.

Dave, the editor whose job was to edit and greenlight books for publishing, struggles. Words such as “chapter” or “book” and his book club friends’ names sometimes elude him but he actively participates. Instead, he points to his book, pages and people.

“Do…women…who…are…Muslim…wear…high-jabs (hijabs),” he asks haltingly about the book’s protagonist. “Their…whole…life? So…does…Afra…wear…a…high-jab?”

Dave, a former publishing executive, has aphasia after suffering multiple strokes. He is reading once again, albeit slowly.

Dave’s sometimes-faltering speech and simple sentence structure represent huge milestones in his speech-language recovery. As the book club meeting progresses, so, too, does his communication. “It’s just like Bruce Willis,” he says at one point.

He and other book club members speculate as to what may have caused the actor’s aphasia. Like most people outside Willis’ circle, they don’t know what led to the action-movie star’s aphasia and resulting retirement, however, they are intimately familiar with the speech-language disorder.

Most book club members are also clients of the Center, receiving individual or group therapy from Montclair speech language pathology students, who are supervised by licensed speech language pathology therapists.

“I couldn’t speak,” says Amelia, a former geography teacher who had a stroke in 2010. Rather than attempt to call the Montclair facility, she found it easier to drive herself from her home in Lyndhurst to the clinic, where “they took me right in.”

After years of treatment and working with speech language pathologists, Dave, Kim and Amelia have regained their voices – and their affinity for reading.

“Reading for these particular clients is a skill that they loved and have lost or they struggle with,” explains Montclair’s Clinical Supervisor Diane Polledri. The book club “was specifically designed to provide an opportunity for clients who wanted to read but because of a brain injury were unable to do so or had difficulty reading again. It truly is a means of providing that outlet, improving quality of life, and providing an opportunity to engage in communication at a conversational level about topics of interest.”

Montclair’s book club is modeled after the Aphasia Center of California’s Book Connection Aphasia Book Club, which was started in 1999 after learning from clients that “their inability to ‘read a good book’ is one of the greatest losses following their brain injury or stroke.” Research has shown that book clubs can provide a support system that counters decreased socialization and reading ability that is common with aphasia.

Aphasia and the Bruce Willis announcement

Although more than 2 million people in the U.S. are affected by aphasia – more than muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis, according to the Aphasia Center of California – few people were aware of it until recent news that Bruce Willis (who studied drama at Montclair and received an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1996) is “stepping away” from acting. The Center describes aphasia as a medical term which refers to the “loss or reduction of language – speaking, understanding, reading, and/or writing – following brain damage, typically as a result of a stroke.”

Willis’ revelation thrust aphasia into the spotlight, which another high-profile individual with the disorder says, “We don’t talk enough about.”

“But we should,” former congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords recently wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post titled “Aphasia makes it hard for me to speak. But I have not lost my voice.”

Giffords, who survived a 2011 assassination attempt that left her with a shattered skull and other injuries, writes: “People who communicate differently don’t want to be made to feel like burdens or outcasts. We’re seeking – and we deserve – the same level of human connection as everyone else.”

Kim discusses The Beekeeper of Aleppo with Amelia; the two women have been members of the Aphasia Book Club since 2017.

Aphasia Book Club, emphasis on “club”

Amelia and Kim have participated in the book club since its inception in 2017, while Dave, who has been attending for several years, is a newer member. They are a tight-knit group of once voracious readers who meet on Tuesday mornings for book club discussions and socializing.

Members choose the book they want to read from a list of five titles from various genres, including nonfiction, fiction, mystery, and a biography or memoir, provided to them by Polledri.

“There have been some very good books…some terrible books,” says Kim, prompting laughs. “It was more the company of the people that made me feel comfortable among them.”

The Aphasia Book Club’s current read.

The book has provided some heavy reading for the group, which has drawn comparisons between the Syrian war in Lefteri’s book to the current war and atrocities in Ukraine. Amelia suggests the group may want to “read a comedy” as their next book selection.

Montclair speech language pathology graduate students Lauren McArthur and Jessica Russo, both 23 and graduating in May, supervise the book club meetings. The students assign the reading, usually one or two chapters per week, depending on length. They try to avoid assigning more than 50 pages at a time because members read at varying levels. The goal is to finish reading a book within an 11-week session; book club meetings run concurrently with the University’s semesters.

To encourage discussion among members, who can also participate virtually, the students write a quote or phrase on the whiteboard. By facilitating discussion, McArthur and Russo “are really targeting the ability for these clients to communicate at a very high level of communication,” Polledri says.

Lauren McArthur, a graduate student in speech language pathology, uses visual aids with Dave.

For those like Dave who require more visual aids, they also provide maps, and they compile a chapter summary, which is distributed prior to and at the meeting. The latter because “clients will complain about forgetting what they read,” Polledri explains. “This allows them to have the summary to refer to and have discussions.”

Says McArthur: “For the book club, the emphasis is really on the social aspect. It’s really allowing them the safe space to engage with their friends, read the book, and just provide them the support to do that. It’s an incredibly important aspect because it has to do with their quality of life.”

The sessions are not “super regimented,” she says. “We veer off a lot, especially for current events that may be relevant to the book. We have been talking about Ukraine a ton because of its parallels to the book.”

Typically, speech language pathology students get clinical hours for the book club assignment but McArthur and Russo are volunteers because they have already completed their three semesters of clinical hours, says Speech Language Pathology Clinic Director Katherine Papas. They volunteered because they wanted experience working with groups and adults.

“One of our close friends also facilitated this book club last semester, and she told me about how great it was, so I jumped at the opportunity,” says Russo, adding that she emailed Papas and practically begged to lead the book club.

McArthur says once she’s licensed as a speech therapist, she wants to work with adults. “I’d love to work in a hospital or rehab.”

Jessica Russo, a speech language pathology graduate student, who volunteered to lead the Aphasia Book Club, says she will be sad to leave it.

Working with book club members, say McArthur and Russo, has helped them get through the sometimes-stressful days of graduate school. In addition to feeling productive, Russo says, she enjoys the “entertaining conversations.”

“I’m going to be very sad to leave this book club,” she says. “Leaving is going to be one of the hardest things because I look forward to it. This is a really great experience, and I’m glad I was able to be a part of it.”

During the meetings, the students strive to “capitalize on” book club members’ strengths, Russo says. “You can see the dynamic, especially among these three; they are very supportive of each other. When one of them will put themselves down, the others are there to help lift the other back up. There are really great and strong friendships that have come from this book club. They really all do support each other, which is such an important aspect of social communication.”

Finding language, laughter and love

While communication is a primary focus at the clinic, the speech language pathology team is also focused on quality-of-life issues, Polledri says.

The book club “gives our clients an opportunity to engage in an activity that has been lost to them with people that understand their struggles and that have the same type of struggles,” she says. “It is truly magical to see them support each other.”

Additionally, “that support gives them back their sense of being able to help others, which is lost when you’ve had a brain injury,” Polledri says. “You become the person that’s helped, as opposed to someone who is helping others, and our adult aphasia groups – and the book club – enable them to help each other, so, it’s very special.”

Amelia, who had a stroke in 2010, has been attending the Aphasia Book Club since its inception in 2017. She says it took her six months to read her first book.

Support and encouragement were on full display during the book club session.

“My brain doesn’t work anymore,” Dave says at one point.

“Your brain works,” Amelia tells him. “You had a stroke.”

“A stroke. Yeah…I have to get better,” he replies.

“Dave, I think you’re doing a great job,” Amelia reassures him. “I really think you’re doing a great job.”

“I agree,” McArthur adds. “You’re doing great. Look how far you’ve come.”

Amelia, who has been a member of the Aphasia Book Club since it started in 2017, assists Dave by showing him a map on her phone.

Dave explains to a visitor: “I had a stroke. Seven years ago…I couldn’t talk…They [speech language therapists and students] helped me…I couldn’t say anything.”

Despite repeated mentions of his stroke and talk of how he misses publishing – or “what I used to be,” as he sometimes put it – it’s also clear that Dave relishes being the class clown.

At one point, he talks about how strokes affect people differently. “Whatever you have is a stroke. That’s why we have people like Diane. She helps us a lot. I don’t really know…but I’m supposed to say that,” he says, prompting laughter from the group.

That assistance, as well as the encouragement and friendships, are what keep the members coming back.

Kim, who had a stroke in 2013, says she can read but has a hard time articulating what she’s read.

“We’ve been together a long time,” says Kim, who lives in Glen Ridge and has apraxia, which makes speaking difficult because of a disconnect between the brain and body movements, such as lips, tongue, jaw and limbs. “I was comforted by people with similar disorders. I felt comfortable among them. This was very important.”

Dave sums it up this way: “I come there to be happy…” Then teasing Amelia and Kim, he adds, “And I’m not sure I like these two guys.”

The group erupts in laughter yet again. He laughs, adding: “No, I really have…become friends…with lots of names. It’s just great. I love what I have. I love them everywhere.”

Amelia adds, “I feel if I could get an inch better, that’s why I come here all the time. Kim said it all. It’s the comfort that we get because we’re not…We can speak but, you know, it’s hard sometimes…We can make mistakes, and we could say things wrong, and we all know that. We all know that.”

Dave chimes in: “They taught me…how to read…just like I was a kid once again.”

Pointing to Amelia, he says, “She helped me…I wasn’t good at what I used to do. They told me how. They told me how. She told me how.”

Amelia replies: “Oh, I could cry now. Come on, Dave, oh my goodness!”

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez. Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters.

Stewart, who was 8 or 9 at the time, says much of the diagnosis went over her head but she recalls what led up to it: She was listening to “Slow Cheetah” in the car when her father cranked up the volume.

“I didn’t know that the lead singer had said a little blurb in the beginning of the song, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so strange,’ ’’ she says.

A hearing test revealed hearing loss in her left ear. “After that hearing test, it made perfect sense why I would be missing that part of the song at a certain volume because I was missing the low end and the high end of a certain frequencies on the audiogram.’’

That song, diagnosis and decades of visits to an ear, nose and throat doctor and audiologist led Stewart to an independent study in Montclair’s Communication Sciences and Disorders department this semester – as an undergraduate in a graduate-level lab.

A Linguistics major in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Stewart is working in Montclair’s Communication Sciences and Disorders Clinical Biofeedback Lab, also known as MSU-CBL, studying adolescents with unilateral hearing loss, and will present her research findings at the New Jersey Speech, Language and Hearing Association’s Annual Convention in April.

The 21-year-old has tackled the study with the same grit and grace – and a good dose of humor – with which she handles her hearing loss. Stewart has seen her pediatric ENT since she was 2. She suffered from ear infections and had to have tubes put in her ears as a toddler through fourth grade. She did without them for a short period but an ear infection led to a perforated eardrum in her left ear.

“That was the first of four perforations, and so I currently have a tube in my ear. I get it replaced every four years or so,” she says, joking that she’s going to have to find a “big girl ENT” soon. The tube, she explains, “stabilizes my eardrum and equalizes the pressure. There’s a bunch of scarring in my ear and on my Eustachian tube, and that’s what led to my unilateral conductive hearing loss.”

Senior Evyn Stewart (No. 11) has played on the Montclair field hockey team for four years.

Stewart also has been playing field hockey since she could hold a stick and has been a member of Montclair’s field hockey team for four years. Her hearing loss, she says, has been her biggest challenge on the field.

“Definitely I feel the impact in sports. I have a hard time telling directional sound. If I have a teammate on my left side, then I definitely have a harder time knowing if they’re calling for the ball but the other thing is, we’re not out on the field whispering, right?” she laughs. “They’re [also] going to say my name.”

Indoor high school tournaments where fields were side by side were “doubly hard,” she says. She could not tell if a whistle was blown by a referee on her field or nearby. At the advice of a mom who recognized her confusion because her daughter also had hearing loss, Stewart bought some whistles that sound like train whistles.

“I would give those to the refs if I knew that we were going to be in a complex with multiple fields next to each other, and so that was helpful,” she says.

In some ways, Stewart thinks she’s developed other skills to compensate and learned to adapt.

“I have definitely done different things and just became accustomed to different methods,” she explains. “So, my game sense is huge for me, just knowing, predicting where the ball would end up and what play would happen versus where it is, that’s how, directionally, I would get myself situated. And I definitely don’t think I would have that aspect if I didn’t become so dependent on it.”

Senior Evyn Stewart (No. 11) has played on the Montclair field hockey team for four years.

Independent study

Stewart was on track to become a speech pathologist, however a summer course in audiology, volunteering in the lab and her independent study changed her career trajectory. The way she sees it, her hearing loss has immersed her in the field of audiology.

“You could say I’ve been taking hearing classes for 21 years,” she says, smiling, “but it never really hit me as a profession until that class. And then I had an ENT appointment that summer, and I talked to my audiologist who has been doing my hearing tests since I was pretty young. My favorite part of going to the ENT was the hearing test because they’re not poking and prodding in your ear. I looked into it more and shadowed my audiologist, and then volunteering in the biofeedback lab, too. All of that is why I wanted to go into audiology.”

University faculty and staff helped Stewart achieve her goal of an independent study, a hurdle that required lots of research, work and persistence to gain registrar approval since she was an undergrad and not a graduate student. Adjunct Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Laura Ochs recommended the volunteer opportunity and Stewart worked closely with and assisted Michelle Turner, a speech-language pathology (SLP) doctoral student with whom she was paired, with research prior to her independent study.

Speech-language pathologist and Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Elaine Hitchcock last year received a National Institutes of Health grant to research the telepractice delivery of speech and currently leads the research and clinical opportunities in the Clinical Biofeedback Lab. Hitchcock, who supervises Stewart’s research study, says that Stewart showed enthusiasm and commitment from the beginning and has demonstrated maturity and independence unexpected in someone so young. Stewart, who has worked as a restaurant hostess and a kayak/paddleboard tour guide in Ocean City for the past three summers trekked to the MSU-CBL for her volunteer service.

Senior Evyn Stewart (No. 11) has played on the Montclair field hockey team for four years.

“How many students, not graduate students, undergraduate students would drive two and a half hours to be a volunteer?” Hitchcock says of Stewart’s weekly trips to the biofeedback lab over the summer. “What we identified pretty quickly was that Stewart was a highly skilled student. For an independent study, you have to want to work with them as the professor. They have to be somebody that you feel like you can trust, that you’re not chasing down and that will do quality work. That’s the kind of student you really want to support. Evyn is still an undergraduate – and a varsity athlete – and is doing an amazing job.”

In her graduate-level study, Stewart is researching the very thing with which she was diagnosed: unilateral hearing loss in adolescents; she’s comparing how their speech perception compares to their “typical hearing peers.” Under Hitchcock’s guidance, she is working with research participants on various tasks in order to record how they say, produce and repeat sounds or words, which will be contrasted with people who have no hearing impairments.

Montclair senior Evyn Stewart, left, works with grad student Ashley Martino, a research participant in Stewart’s independent study.

Recently, she was working with another Montclair student, Ashley Martino, officially known as “Participant 05” in the study. Martino, 22, has some hearing loss in her left ear due to a cholesteatoma, a cyst or skin growth behind the eardrum. A graduate student in Speech-Language Pathology, Martino was recruited as a research participant by another professor who was aware of her hearing loss. She says she has a hearing aid she does not wear. “My whole life, I’ve learned to adapt,” she says.

Stewart handed her headphones and ran her through a series of tests. In one test, Stewart has her repeat a list of “crazy made-up words,” beginning with single syllables, followed by double and triple and finally quadrisyllabic words, which Stewart records. The goal, she says, is to compare Martino’s and other research subjects’ perception of the words they hear with their pronunciation of them and see how they may differ.

While she’s still gathering and analyzing data, Stewart says that someone with unilateral hearing loss may have difficulty deciphering between ‘b’ and ‘p’ sounds, something with which she also struggles. “So, when I ask them to say ‘bo-ta-go’ or whatever the made-up word is, they might say ‘po-ta-go’ because they didn’t hear the ‘b’ sound from the initial output,” she says.

The research is important because while there has been research on bilateral hearing loss among students, there has not been much on the impact of unilateral hearing loss in young adults, says Hitchcock. “Let’s see if there’s anything uniquely different in our findings that may inform the research in one direction or the other,” she says, adding that it’s still preliminary.

Montclair senior Evyn Stewart records study participant Ashley Martino in Montclair’s Communication Sciences and Disorders Clinical Biofeedback Lab.

Grad school bound

Stewart has applied to a dozen audiology schools across the country and has been accepted to most, including Montclair. She has until April 15 to decide which she’ll attend. When she does, she will have three graduate level credits under her belt, says Hitchcock, who is happy for her even though she chose audiology over SLP.

“It’s not about me,” Hitchcock says. “My job is to give them opportunities. It’s her life, she should do what she wants. She was still here with me for a whole semester and then some, learning, growing and finding her path in life – it’s amazing.”

One of the first people with whom Stewart shared her decision to pursue audiology? Her audiologist of many years.

“She was really excited,” Stewart says smiling.

For more information on Audiology or Speech-Language Pathology, visit Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez, Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters.

Researchers of ����vlog, Tara McAllister of New York University, and Jonathan Preston of Syracuse University, are working to change that.

Many people are aware that children with speech sound disorder exhibit atypical speech patterns that can result in reduced intelligibility. Speech intelligibility reflects how easily a child can be understood and poor speech intelligibility can pose a barrier to social and academic participation with potentially lifelong consequences for educational and occupational outcomes. Typically, delayed speech development resolves by 8-9 years old, but between 2-5% of children exhibit residual speech sound disorder (RSSD) which persists through adolescence. Children with RSSD commonly exhibit differences in phonological awareness, reading, and spelling. Differences in auditory perception of speech are also known to play a critical role in the development of typical speech production as well as literacy. This suggests that interventions enhancing auditory perception and providing feedback on the acoustics of speech errors could improve treatment outcomes for RSSD.

Consider Amanda Gorman, the Poet Laureate who spoke at the 2021 presidential inauguration. She clearly exemplifies a person with much to say, but who might not have always been understood. She describes having difficulty saying certain sounds, including “r” which she worked extremely hard to overcome with determination and hard work. But what if there were intervention techniques that decreased the challenge of acquiring difficult sounds such as “r”?

Figure 1. Visual-acoustic biofeedback.

According to Hitchcock, McAllister and Preston, the use of acoustic and ultrasound biofeedback can significantly increase the accuracy of “r” pronunciation in children and adolescents, although few clinicians currently have access to this method as a means of speech sound intervention. Visual-acoustic biofeedback uses instrumentation to provide a real-time display of acoustic events such as formant patterns (Figure 1) and has been linked to positive outcomes in individuals with RSE who have not responded to previous intervention. Ultrasound biofeedback uses an ultrasound probe (Figure 2) – similar to ones used in cardiac and tissue imaging – which is held under the chin, and sound waves capture real-time images of the tongue. The images provide both the child and speech pathologist with information about the tongue’s position and shape.

Research suggests that visual biofeedback enhances the sensory experience of producing a sound like “r”. In addition to hearing the sound of speech, the child sees a visual display of her own speech and a model representing the correct pronunciation of the sound. The model creates a target. Using the visual display, the child can adjust her speech to achieve a better match with the target.

After a decade of testing these approaches with small scale studies, the research team has sufficient evidence to attribute the success of the treatment model to the unconventional approach it brings to the task of learning speech. In traditional methods, the clinician typically asks the child to imitate the “r” sound that they hear. However, many children who are unable to produce a clear “r” sound also have trouble hearing the difference between a clearly produced “r” and incorrect “r”. The theory is that biofeedback is successful because it bypasses that auditory channel. Even if the child can’t hear the difference between good and bad “r”, they can see whether they are matching the target on the screen. Matching the target lets them know if they are saying the “r” sound clearly.

Until recently, the research team was only able to offer these treatments via in-person services at Montclair, New York University or Syracuse University. Telepractice delivery of speech services has been increasing in recent years, with an explosive rise in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after the pandemic subsides, a long-term shift toward greater use of telepractice is likely. Telepractice can improve flexibility for clients and clinicians and may be the only means for individuals in rural or underserved areas to access the services of a certified speech-language pathologist. Eliminating geographic barriers may also improve delivery of specialized services, such as visual biofeedback. Starting in February, 2022, both in-person and online treatment options using visual biofeedback are available for children ages 9-16.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health for in-person and online intervention options, the current research projects will meet a public health need by conducting the first randomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy and efficiency of speech intervention with and without real-time visual biofeedback. If you are interested in learning more about these research opportunities, please contact at MSUspeechstudy@gmail.com, Tara McAllister, PhD at NYUchildspeech@gmail.com, or Jonathan Preston, PhD at SpeechProductionLab@syr.edu.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted ongoing shifts toward telepractice delivery of speech therapy, as well as online collection of research data in the study of speech perception and production,” says Hitchcock. “This research will meet a public health need by evaluating the efficacy of speech intervention supplemented with real-time visual-acoustic biofeedback when delivered using remote technologies. It will also develop an online battery to assess perception of targeted speech sounds and test the effects of online auditory-perceptual training for children who present with speech production errors and atypical auditory perception.”

The current award will support an ongoing collaboration in this research domain with New York University and Syracuse University. In 2019, Hitchcock was awarded a $271,000 sub-award for the first year of a five-year, $1.4 million collaboration with colleagues at New York University and Syracuse University for a study to advance both the understanding of speech production as well as the remediation of residual speech errors in school-aged children.

We congratulate the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Class of 2020 for earning their degrees. While we wish we could celebrate together in person, we are proud of our graduates and want to mark their achievements.

In a message to CHSS graduates, Dean Peter Kingstone said, “Reaching this point with your degree in hand – especially in the midst of a pandemic and lockdown — is a great testament to your will, perseverance and talent. We are so proud of you and your achievements at Montclair State.”

Several CHSS departments found creative ways to celebrate their graduates in lieu of our traditional Convocation ceremony. See how they celebrated below!

Communication Sciences and Disorders

On May 19, the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department held a Zoom ceremony to congratulate twelve students receiving their Doctorate in Audiology,  AuD. Friends and family of the graduates and other faculty and staff were in attendance to celebrate the graduates.  A surprise guest speaker, Dr. Maged Haimed, gave students an inspirational message.  Dr. Haimed is the Accounts Manager for the Mid-Atlantic division of Oticon, one of the largest hearing aid manufacturers in the world. Following the message from Dr. Haimed, each student was honored and the ceremony concluded with a toast.

English

On Thursday, May 28, the English Department celebrated its 2020 graduates with a Convocation zoomed to 160 B.A. and M.A. recipients, their proud families and friends, and their equally proud professors. Honors awardees were recognized by cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude designations, as were our annual English Department Awards recipients from 2019 and 2020. Professor Jonathan Greenberg, Department Chair, offered an inspiring and witty introduction; and Nelson Vazquez and Sierra Javras delivered moving tributes to their classmates and grateful professors; copies of all three and the event program are attached, as is a link to the video portion of the ceremony. Watch the English Department Zoom celebration and read more!

Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies

Dr. Jessica Restaino read the names of the 2020 GSWS graduating class and shared a message to the graduates. Watch the Video

Sociology

Faculty members of the Sociology department gathered via Zoom to deliver congratulations to their students. Watch the video and be sure to stay to the end for the outtakes!

A Message from President Cole

As President Susan A. Cole has told our grads, “Now more than ever the world needs bright, committed, well-prepared people who can take on the immense challenges we are facing. Your education at Montclair State has prepared you for this moment, and I have full confidence in you.”

“You are readier than ever to go out and be great in this world….,” Cole said. “The world will open up again. It will. And you will be out there able to fulfill your dreams and your hopes. That will happen.”

View the video below from the president, the dean of students, the provost and the president of the Student Government Association, addressed for the graduates on behalf of the entire faculty and staff and fellow students.

The Saffran Student Scholar Award is a competitive award funded by a grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH-NIDCD). It includes funding for attendance at the annual Eleanor M. Saffran Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience and Rehabilitation of Communication Disorders, dinner with the conference speakers, and lunch with Judith Cooper, Deputy Director of NIDCD and Director of the NIDCD Division of Scientific Programs. The conference was held on September 20 and 21, 2019 in Philadelphia, PA.