The Human Communication Research Group at Flinders University

  1. Introduction to the group
  2. Information for research students

The aim of the group is to carry out research in speech, language, hearing and swallowing which is clinically relevant and of high scientific merit.

Members of the group include staff of the University and the FMC, as well as postgraduate and honours students.

The group is based within Speech Pathology & Audiology , but also provides a vehicle for collaborative research with members of other departments and external organisations.

The group specialises in the following areas of research:

  1. Language Processing: Phonology, literacy and communication in children; adult acquired disorders and bilingualism
  2. Speech Production, including Voice and Swallowing: Early speech/feeding and effects on later development; voice disorders and their prevention; dysphagia
  3. Hearing: Auditory processing and its disorders, aural rehabilitation, tinnitus, epidemiology of adult hearing loss and tinnitus, age-related sensory and cognitive change, cochlear implants

The current coordinator of the Group is Professor Andrew Butcher .

The Group has a program of monthly research seminars, often with invited external speakers, on a wide range of topics within the field of human communication.

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Information for Research Students

Current Research Projects

A number of research posters authored by staff and students from the Department of SpeechPathology and Audiology presented at recent conferences are available for you to view and download. The posters are in PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader (this is available free from www.adobe.com)

Teaching and assessing hearing aids in a Problem-Based Learning audiology course. (PDF 5MB) , Sparrow, Lind, Sanchez (2007)

Communication Between Individuals With Severe Aphasia and Their Partners : A Brief Early Intervention. (PDF 2MB) Correll, Van Steenbrugge & Scholten (2006).

Altering question complexity in maximising children's expressive languiage output. (PDF 155KB) Roberts, Macey and Brebner (2004).

Voice as a priority for teachers: The implications for voice education. (PDF 1MB) . Langridge, Russell, Coveny & Wilkinson (2004).

Do individuals with severe to profound intellectual disabilities have phonological awareness skills or the ability to acquire them? (PDF 218KB) Boase, Bulman, Brebner (2004).

The Master of Audiology program (Flinders University): An evolving PBL curriculum. (PDF 103KB)    Sanchez, Lind & Turner, (2002).

Review of an APD (Auditory Processing Disorder) clinical database. (PDF 119KB) Sanchez, (2002).      

Ear preference and mobile phone use. (PDF 72KB)   Sanchez, Ben-Tovim, Dougherty, Dunk, Hodgman, James, Malone, & Smith, (2002).