The Bachelor's Degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences allows students to explore the mechanisms and processes of human communication and prepares students to pursue graduate education in the fields of speech-language pathology, audiology, or speech and hearing science. Courses are open to students in other major fields.
Audiologists are professionals with master's or doctoral degrees specializing in prevention, identification, and assessment of hearing impairment. They also provide habilitation and rehabilitation of persons with hearing loss, and they fit hearing aids. Audiologists work in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, private practices, universities, schools, government agencies, industry, nursing homes, and health departments.
Speech-language pathologists are professionals with master's or doctoral degrees who assess and treat communication disorders such as stuttering, delayed language development, aphasia, voice disorders, and articulation problems. Speech-language pathologists work in schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, research laboratories, universities, and private practices.
Speech, language, and hearing scientists are professionals, usually with a doctoral degree, who investigate basic and applied aspects of communication. They work mainly in universities, industry, and research institutes.
There is a continuing need, nationwide, for certified professionals in these fields. The major is an excellent choice for students who have a general interest in human behavior, education, and/or health professions and who are specifically interested in how humans beings acquire, produce, and receive language.
Online Availability: Partial
Career Opportunities
An integrated program that prepares individuals to work as both audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Includes instruction in a variety of communication disorder studies, audiology, speech pathology, language acquisition, and the design and implementation of comprehensive therapeutic and rehabilitative solutions to communications problems.
September 2025
College of Arts and Sciences
MSC 03 2120, Ortega Hall 201,
1 University of New Mexico,
ALBUQUERQUE,
New Mexico,
87131, United States
Secondary Education: Completion of the equivalent of an American upper-secondary school education (approximately 12 years of formal education beginning at age six) as well as the appropriate diplomas or satisfactory results on leaving examinations.
Academic Preparation: Strong academic preparation and a U.S.-equivalent cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale (for freshman applicants)
English Proficiency:
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) - minimum score 6.0; the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) - minimum score 520 paper-based, or 68 Internet-based; the Duolingo English Test - minimum score 95; the University of Cambridge Examinations Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) or Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) - minimum score C; or the Pearson Test of English- Academic (PTE) - minimum score 47
Priority Dates: Fall Term - May 1; Spring Term - December 13; Summer Term - June 1
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.
