World Voice Day Celebration Coming to West Chester University

WEST CHESTER, PA — National World Voice Day will be recognized on the 100th anniversary of West Chester University’s Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders on Tuesday, March 21, from 7 to 9 p.m.

“World Voice Day is a celebration of all things voice,” Liz Grillo, professor of communication sciences and disorders, said. “In the field of communication sciences and disorders, it is a celebration of how we, as speech-language pathologists, help people with voice problems, disorders, and differences.”

The celebration is in the Science and Engineering Center, 155 University Ave., West Chester.

Speech-language pathologists, students, and alumni will speak about a wide range of trending and relevant topics, including the results of the first study conducted on mindfulness and people with voice disorders.

Professor Grillo’s ground-breaking grant work helped support her invention of VoiceEvalU8, the only comprehensive voice-evaluation smartphone application tool in the U.S. dedicated to helping to reduce debilitating voice disorders.

The tool is the first to record acoustic, perceptual, and aerodynamic voice data across multiple days in the morning before talking all day and in the evening after talking all day.

Philadelphia-based opera singer, Kara Goodrich, also a West Chester pre-graduate certification student, will sing an Opera Aria.

Goodrich, who will perform the lead soprano role of Mimi in the opera La Boheme at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia this spring, plans to work with people who have concerns about their voices.

The department has a Speech and Hearing Clinic that offers free, full diagnostic evaluations for children and adults suspected of having speech, language, or hearing disorders.