Departmental Research

This degree is offered by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in Temple’s College of Public Health. Students who are interested in gaining research experience are encouraged to discuss potential opportunities with faculty researchers. Department faculty research emphases include

  • aphasia,
  • apraxia,
  • bilingual language development,
  • child language delays and disorders,
  • effects of brain damage on language function, and
  • voice.

The department’s research centers and labs include the following.

  • Aphasia Rehabilitation Research Laboratory: This lab aims to better understand the relationship between language, short-term memory and other cognitive processes in individuals with aphasia.
  • Concepts & Cognition Lab: Graduate students and faculty have recently been studying topics such as concept acquisition, linguistic patterns, multidimensional scaling of abstract words and semantic access. Language treatment for dementia is also a significant focus of the lab’s activities and research.
  • Eleanor Saffran Center for Cognitive Neuroscience: Researchers, clinicians and students in this laboratory work together to investigate the relationships among the language and short-term memory impairments associated with aphasia.
  • First Language Foundations Laboratory: This lab aims to optimize the developmental potential of all d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children by understanding the links between language access, language proficiency and outcomes in other domains.
  • Human Abilities in Bilingual Language Acquisition Laboratory: This lab focuses on understanding how bilingual individuals organize and access two language systems. Ultimately, the goal of this inquiry is to better understand the nature of language breakdowns associated to language impairment.
  • Speech, Language and Brain Laboratory (SLAB lab): The SLAB lab focuses on speech and language comprehension and production across the lifespan, both in unimpaired individuals and in various populations with developmental or acquired speech or language disorders such as aphasia, apraxia of speech and phonological disorders.
  • Speech Perception and Cognition Laboratory: This lab aims to improve speech communication ability in older adults by exploring hearing loss, cognitive difficulty and speech perception.
  • Temple University Speech-Language-Hearing Center: This center provides a wide range of services to people of all ages with communication disorders. Graduate clinicians provide services under the direct supervision of Temple faculty who hold the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and Pennsylvania licensure in Speech-Language Pathology or Audiology.
  • Vocal Development Laboratory: This lab focuses on understanding the development of voice and speech in children with and without voice disorders, with the ultimate goal of making voice therapy for children more effective and efficient.

Learn more about research in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Research in Temple’s College of Public Health

The College of Public Health is one of the most research-active colleges at Temple University. Research at the college is multidisciplinary and spans both discovery and translation.

Temple is an R1 institution of “highest research activity” as designated by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing it in the top 4% of all four-year educational institutions in the nation. Temple’s research enterprise distinguishes itself through its focus on community, and by using advances in technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives.

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