Deafness expert returns ‘home’ for celebratory conference
Press release: 11 June 2009
A world-renowned expert on childhood deafness who became interested in the field after his son was born deaf is returning to his home city for a major international conference.
Bury-born Arthur Boothroyd had studied physics at Hull but joined what was then the Department of Audiology and Deaf Education at The University of Manchester following the birth of his son.
Following two years of research on hearing aids, he was hired as an Assistant Professor of Audiology. In 1968 he was awarded his PhD degree for research on speech perception and hearing-aid fitting in hearing-impaired children.
Soon after, he moved to the United States where he served as Director of Research and Clinical Services at the Clark School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts. And in 1981, he joined the Faculty of the Doctoral Program in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the City University of New York, eventually attaining the rank of Distinguished Professor.
In 2000, Professor Boothroyd moved to California, where he remains active as a teacher, researcher and consultant, and has published extensively on the effects of hearing loss on development, with special emphasis on speech perception, its assessment, and its enhancement with hearing aids, cochlear implants and tactile aids.
Professor Boothroyd is returning to Manchester to speak at the ‘Deaf Education Fit for the Future’ conference being held at The University of Manchester on June 12 and 13.
Dr Wendy McCracken, from the Audiology and Deafness unit in Manchester’s School of Psychological Sciences, said: “The University of Manchester has a proud history in deaf education and the conference celebrates 90 years of training teachers of the deaf in Manchester – the longest running course of its kind in the UK.
“The department can also boast the first group hearing aid in the UK, which was developed in 1935, while, more recently, Manchester led in the national rollout of digital amplification to deaf children, as well as the national evaluation of newborn hearing screening.”
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Notes for editors
Professor Boothroyd is available for interview on request.
For further information contact:
Aeron Haworth
Media Officer
Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences
The University of Manchester
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 8383
Mobile: +44 (0)7717 881563
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk