By Andrea Hein, Harris College communications intern

Students enrolled in the Physics of Music and Sound course this spring had unique interactions with graduate students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders (COSD) program. The graduate students conducted full hearing evaluations on the music students as part of a required lab practice.

Students came to the Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic (MSHC) in February to have their hearing thresholds assessed by graduate students for the fifth consecutive year. A lecture is also provided to correspond with the lab for the Physics of Music students to preface them with background information prior to the hearing evaluation.

Tracy Burger, MSHC audiologist, supervised the seven graduate students conducting the screenings. She has been very excited about the comfort level in student-to-student interaction, which fosters learning. She said this allows the graduate students to attain more clinical experience with hearing evaluations before seeing clients in the clinic.

“The music students get a very extensive audiological workup,” Burger said. The full hearing evaluation will include everything from the student’s case history, otoscopy, tympanometry and hearing evaluation, with counseling at the conclusion of the lab. They also will listen to different levels of volume in order to understand how the frequency of sound affects the contour of loudness.

The music students in this course were able to question the COSD graduate students following the lab to aid their understanding of the physics of sound. Students who may continue with music also will receive a baseline of their hearing, which may be helpful in evaluating changes in hearing after noise exposure as well as developing perspective on the importance of protecting hearing.