Karen Doherty, professor and chair of the Communications Sciences and Disorders Department in the College of Arts and Sciences, faculty affiliate with the Aging Studies Institute and member of the neuroscience faculty, has received national recognition for her research, teaching and service.

Doherty was elected a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), one of the highest forms of recognition given by ASHA. The fellowship recognizes an individual’s accomplishments and outstanding professional achievements in the field of communication sciences and disorders.

“I am extremely honored that my contributions to the field of audiology and hearing research are being recognized by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association,” Doherty says. “The list of previous ASHA Fellows are colleagues for whom I have the greatest respect and whose successful careers I have admired for years. To be included with this group of individuals is an honor in and of itself.”

Doherty specializes in speech perception in the hearing-impaired, psychoacoustics and amplification, with a specific interest in age-related hearing loss.

Judy Dubno, professor and director of research in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, nominated Doherty for the fellowship based on her research, teaching and service to the profession.

Dubno, who has been referred to as “unquestionably one of the most outstanding researchers in audiology in the United States today,” wrote, “Her [Doherty’s] work studies the [acoustic] information available to listeners and how effectively listeners, especially those with hearing loss, use that information. Karen’s findings address long-standing questions that have been challenging researchers in communication disorders for many years. It is especially important to understand how individuals with hearing loss use newly available information as more sophisticated amplification devices are developed that are designed to restore speech information.”

More recently, Doherty has expanded her research to include studies of innovative signal processing strategies, which may increase the benefit individuals with hearing loss can derive from amplification. In addition, Doherty has been on the forefront of researchers demonstrating the increased mental effort for understanding speech that is required when individuals with hearing loss do not wear hearing aids.

The award will be presented by the association during a ceremony at the ASHA Convention on Nov. 18 in Philadelphia. “Every year our department hosts a Syracuse University alumni party at the ASHA conference,” Doherty says. “This year I’m looking forward to celebrating my award at our party with colleagues, my former and current students, and alumni of all of our CSD programs.”