Research training and scope of research in Logopedics

Logopedics is taught as a major subject at the University of Oulu and thus provides postgraduate research training. Most of the main research projects in Logopedics have their origins in dissertations. From the 1990s to early 2000’s, postgraduate study seminars were organised on a regular basis. Since then, however, due to the wide spectrum of research areas, guidance has been organised, usually, once a month in supervisory sessions within supervisory teams. Students are actively directed to apply for membership in appropriate graduate schools. Methodological studies of the post-graduate phase are carried out locally, e.g. in the Graduate school of Culture and Interaction, and that of Circumpolar Wellbeing, Health and Adaptation, and nationally in the Langnet (Finnish Graduate School in Langnet Studies).

Logopedics has strong links to supporting disciplines of the major subject, especially to behavioural sciences, medicine and psychology. Most of the research projects in Logopedics are run in co-operation with other disciplines of faculties at the University of Oulu and in co-operation with other universities and research units, either national or international.

Main research areas in Logopedics are related to 1) child language acquisition, 2) neural basis of language acquisition and language deficits, 3) auditory processing and language development in individuals born very premature, and with Autism spectrum syndromes, 4) speech perception and communication of persons with hearing impairments, or 5) neurological or neurocognitive impairments.

Child language acquisition
In the field of child language acquisition the research has concentrated on phonological and prosodic acquisition of language, and on the evaluation of development in clinical contexts.
Additional research topics include comprehension and production of phonological and morpho-syntactic structures in children with specific language impairment, and the quality of mother-infant interaction and child early communicative capacities as predictors of later linguistic outcomes.

Neural basis of language acquisition and language deficits
In various research projects, several brain imaging techniques are mainly used in finding out the significance of auditory perception in language acquisition and language use. Furthermore, the effects of medical treatment (early low-dose hydrocortisone and antenatal corticosteroids in prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, BPD) during the neonatal period on speech and language development of children born prematurely are currently being studied in a randomised, controlled and blinded multi-centre study. Currently, also the effects of different environmental, prenatal and neurological risk factors on speech and language development and learning skills of children born prematurely are studied, combining the data from four different cohorts both nationally and internationally. This follow-up study aims at investigating school achievements and quality of life of children born prematurely.

Auditory processing and language development in individuals born very premature, and with Autism spectrum syndromes
The neural basis of auditory processing has been investigated both by using auditory event-related
potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) mainly in children born prematurely, and in individuals with Asperger syndrome. Recently, this research area has broadened
to research on the efficacy of rehabilitation in individuals with specific language impairment, and aphasia. In addition, the efficacy of musical training on auditory processing and language learning are also currently investigated, as well as multisensory language processing in bilingual adults with a sign language as their mother language.

Speech perception and communication of persons with hearing impairments
In the field of hearing impairments and speech perception, the research has concentrated on 1)
epidemiology of hearing impairments, 2) the effects of hearing impairment on children’s speech
and language development and late outcome, 3) speech and language development of children with cochlear implants and speech perception and auditory performance of adult cochlear implant users, 4) the quality of life after cochlear implantation and the cost-utility of cochlear implantation, 5) development of tools and methods for speech perception assessment, 6) effects of the use of assistive listening devices, 7) hearing impairment simulations and their clinical validation, and 8) follow-up of hearing problems and speech perception in the cases of noise exposure.

Speech perception and communication of persons with neurological or neurocognitive impairments, voice disorders
Concerning aphasiology, post-stroke depression, especially the course, associates, and predictors
of depressive symptoms during the first 18 months after stroke have been examined. Additionally,
a national research consortium on intensive constraint-induced aphasia intervention has recently
been started in which the efficacy of rehabilitation requiring intense practice over a relatively short

period is studied. Further, in the field of gerontological logopedics, auditory speech processing of the elderly in a cognitively demanding situation is currently being studied. Concerning voice problems, background factors of functional voice problems in professional voice users have been investigated during the recent years.