The Ph.D. program reflects the broad interests of its multidisciplinary faculty, whose members have diverse backgrounds in speech, language, hearing, engineering, physiology, physics, psychology, linguistics, and bioengineering. Faculty members are committed to an interdisciplinary approach to questions at every level of the speech and language production/perception system.

The purpose of the doctoral program is to provide the integrated knowledge necessary for a productive career in speech-language pathology and audiology, communication science, and related areas.

The department encourages candidates with special interests, goals, or backgrounds to develop individualized programs of study. There is no standard curriculum for the Ph.D.; rather, a program of study is developed by each student in consultation with a faculty committee. The course of study is developed from courses offered by the department, courses in other areas (e.g., physics, engineering, psychology, mathematics, statistics, physiology, neurology, anatomy, and others), and special reading and research experiences.