The Department was initially an integral part of the Department of Neurology as a ‘Speech Therapy Unit’ from 1971- 1980. It was accorded an independent status of a department in 1980 following forethought efforts of the then Head of the Department of Neurology; Dr. M. Gourie-Devi, and Director; Dr. G.N. Narayana Reddy. It was re-named as the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology in 1988 to project its nature of work in the areas of Speech-Language pathology and Audiology. The new premises was inaugurated by Sri. S.K.Srivastava, IAS, Addl. Secretary and Finance Adviser, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, in the presence of Ms. Sujaya Krishnan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India on 20th June 2013. The department has two sound treated rooms for audiometric evaluation and separate rooms for auditory Evoked potential, Oto Acoustic Emission, Immittance & reflex testing and Speech labs. It also has separate rooms for diagnostic and therapeutic work-up.
The department offers evaluation and management to a variety of communication disorders. The placement of the department in a neuropsychiatric set-up has earned a unique position in the field of Speech and Hearing in the country.
In the area of human resource development the department has contributed enormously in imparting clinical and research training to the undergraduate intern students of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology posted to the department for a period of two months from various institutions in the country. In addition, post graduate students in ENT from various institutions in the state also undergo training for a period of 15 days. The students are also encouraged to write and present scientific papers in the conferences. The faculty of the department are invited to conduct seminars, workshops, continuing education programs, conferences at both national and international levels. This is a testimony for the experience it has accrued over the past several decades in the area of neuropsychiatric communication disorders. The department is equipped with latest technology for the diagnosis and management of neuropsychiatric communication disorders.
It has language tools for the assessment of language across the life span, acoustic evaluation of speech using software programs, central auditory speech and non-speech tests, audiometers for hearing threshold estimation and speech perceptual abilities, Impedance audiometer to ascertain the middle ear status and integrity of the brainstem system, otoacoustic measurements to evaluate the functioning of the cochlea in particular the outer hair cells functioning, Auditory evoked potentials for recording the auditory latency and amplitude response for a variety of acoustic stimuli to understand the auditory processing and diagnostic purposes.
Several indigenous tests in the area of central auditory function evaluation, aphasia, dementia, autism spectrum disorders and dysarthria have been developed through research work. A few other tests are in the process of development.