Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center

Amanda Headley Piper (Anne Rayner/Vanderbilt University) “If you want to make a difference in the world, meet a need,” Amanda Headley Piper’s grandmother once said, and Piper heeded those words of wisdom. She is the first pediatric audiologist from her twin-island home of Trinidad and Tobago, where… Read More

Class of 2022: Growing up, Dillon Pruett didn’t know anyone who stuttered like he did, but he was well aware of how widely misunderstood the disorder was, both among children and adults. As he learned more about the science behind it, he became determined to dispel those misconceptions. Today the Basic Sciences Ph.D. candidate is conducting novel genetic research to provide a better understanding of stuttering and ultimately develop new therapies to treat it. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers has received a $3.1 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop advanced, patient-specific cochlear implant stimulation models for customized implant programming. Read More

The past decade in particular has been marked by a dramatic increase in music cognition inquiry, as about 100 laboratory groups around the world, including at Vanderbilt, are working across disciplines to understand music’s relationship to the brain, behavior and health, and to develop effective intervention strategies. Read More

Nashville Chalk Fest is a free, two-day street painting festival with entertainment, food and family fun featuring sidewalk chalk art by professional artists, hobbyists and art enthusiasts from across the country. Read More

The Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center's Department of Hearing and Speech Services is looking for children between the ages of 8 and 11 years old who play a musical instrument. Read More

Children with hearing loss who use remote microphone systems (RMS) at home have access to about 42 percent more words each day, providing a critical boost to vocabulary and language learning, a Vanderbilt study has found. Read More

Renowned neurotologist Michael E. Glasscock III, MD, adjunct professor of Otolaryngology, died Feb. 17 in the home he shared with his daughter, Martina Glasscock Barnes, in Asheville, North Carolina. He was 84. The cause of death was kidney disease. Read More

Ralph Ohde, PhD, professor emeritus of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, died Jan. 8. He was 73. Read More

Using technology developed here, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has organized a large database of children who are deaf or hard of hearing that combines data from 48 programs in four countries — about 7,000 children so far. Read More

Children ages 4 to 6 who do or do not stutter are needed for a research study, “Cognitive, Linguistic and Emotional Contributions to Childhood Stuttering.” Read More

Having a child born without an external ear or ear canal can be a scary and confusing experience for parents, and finding medical care for the rare condition has meant having to travel to several distant medical centers for treatment options. Read More

Ron Eavey, M.D., Guy M. Maness Professor and chair of Otolaryngology and director of the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, received the 2017 Edward C. Bradley S.J., M.D., Medical Alumni Award from the Saint Joseph’s University Medical Alumni Chapter at its annual awards event on its Philadelphia campus on April 23. Read More

The Vanderbilt Audiology Clinic is offering free hearing screenings to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University employees from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 26, 27 and 28. Read More

A hoarse voice or persistent sore throat that lasts for weeks may seem like a mild nuisance, but those same symptoms could be early signs of head and neck cancer. To help patients determine their risk for disease and detect problems at an early stage, the Vanderbilt Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center will offer free head and neck screenings Friday, April 7, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Read More

People who have problems with their sense of smell or taste and don’t know the cause have a new treatment option at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center. Read More

Patients are coming to the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center from around the globe, discovering the center’s world-class services through social media. One such person is Sophia Pafitis, who traveled to Vanderbilt last year from the Australian island of Tasmania. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are seeking participants for a study of how children and adults listen in the presence of background noise. Specifically, the researchers want to learn why children have a harder time listening in noisy environments than adults. Read More

Boys and girls age 4 to 6—those who stutter and those who do not—are needed for a research study, "Emotional Processing in Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter." Read More

Professional artists, hobbyists and art enthusiasts from around the country created sidewalk chalk art in Hillsboro Village Sept. 24-25 during the second annual Nashville Chalk Fest, which benefits the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, specifically the Preschool for Children with Autism and the Mama Lere Hearing School. Read More