What Is the Language-Speech Laboratory? / What Is Its Purpose?
Üsküdar University Language-Speech Laboratory is an advanced practice center that provides practical and clinically oriented training for the objective assessment, analysis, and rehabilitation of language, speech, voice, and swallowing disorders.
- Main Purpose: The main purpose is to transform students’ theoretical clinical knowledge in the field of speech and language therapy into practical clinical skills through computerized voice analysis systems, articulation tests, and objective measurement tools.
- Academic Contribution: The laboratory enables students to examine the acoustic parameters of speech and voice signals and develop evidence-based clinical approaches. It provides an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the anatomical, physiological, and acoustic foundations of communication disorders.
Devices and Technical Equipment Available in the Laboratory
The laboratory infrastructure includes industry-standard software and hardware that objectively measure the speech mechanism and voice disorders. Within the framework of its Key Features, the technical equipment and systems available in the laboratory are as follows:
- Computerized Speech Laboratory (CSL) System: The main hardware unit that enables high-precision recording of voice and speech signals, acoustic analysis, and graphical modeling.
- Acoustic Voice Analysis Software (MDVP, etc.): Digital analysis systems that objectively measure the fundamental frequency, jitter (frequency perturbation), shimmer (amplitude perturbation), and noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR), among other parameters that determine voice quality.
- Nasometer Device: A system that measures the acoustic energy emitted from the nasal and oral cavities during speech to assess resonance disorders (hypernasality/hyponasality).
- Language and Speech Assessment Test Kits: Standardized clinical test materials used to measure articulation, phonology, language development, and fluency (stuttering) levels in children and adults.
- High-Quality Audio Recording Equipment: Equipment that collects signals through microphones and sound cards in an acoustically isolated environment in order to ensure the accuracy of acoustic analyses.
Research and Application Areas
The applied curricula and academic studies conducted within the laboratory cover all sub-specialty areas of speech and language therapy:
- Acoustic Analysis of Voice Disorders: Creating an acoustic profile of the voice in cases of functional or organic voice disorders (dysphonia) and objectively monitoring the condition before and after therapy.
- Articulation and Phonological Disorders: Identifying motor or cognitive-based speech sound disorders that prevent the accurate production of speech sounds and conducting simulated therapy sessions.
- Fluency Disorders (Stuttering and Cluttering): Examining the factors that disrupt speech fluency, syllable/word repetitions, and disfluencies using clinical assessment tools.
- Resonance and Nasality Assessments: Objective measurement of resonance deviations associated with structural anomalies such as cleft lip and palate or neurological conditions.
Contributions to Students and the Industry
The Language-Speech Laboratory minimizes students’ adaptation period to clinical and hospital settings after graduation and equips the industry with well-trained professionals.
- Evidence-Based Clinical Approach: Students learn to obtain concrete, numerical, and graphical clinical data through devices rather than being limited to subjective auditory-perceptual assessments.
- Preparation for the Industry: Graduates who learn to effectively use the technological equipment and assessment tools available in this laboratory can quickly become employed as Speech and Language Therapists in hospitals’ ENT and neurology clinics, rehabilitation centers, private speech and language therapy centers, and academic research laboratories.
