Rate My Professor Traci Flynn

Dr. Traci Flynn serves as a Casual Academic in the School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned her PhD in Audiology from Goteborgs Universitet in Sweden, concentrating on the hearing and middle ear status of children and young adults with cleft palate with or without lip, a Master of Arts, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Minnesota, USA. Her professional career encompasses a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Karolinska Institute's Speech Pathology department in Sweden from 2013 to 2017, where she examined the impact of hearing devices on language and quality of life in children with hearing impairment. Previously, she was a PhD student at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital's Department of Audiology from 2008 to 2013, and a Research Audiologist at Oticon A/S in Copenhagen, Denmark from 2002 to 2007. During her time at Oticon, she provided clinical services in the USA, UK, and New Zealand for individuals with hearing impairment, especially cochlear implant users, contributed to designing user-friendly hearing devices, received a US patent for a hearing aid with visual indicator in 2006, and co-authored the Functional Assessment Guide with Professor Anne Marie Tharpe.

Flynn's research interests center on hearing impairment, language, rehabilitation, and specifically quality of life and language abilities in children with hearing disorders. Her Fields of Research classification is 420110 Speech Pathology at 100%. She has obtained $458,093 in funding from nine grants, including as lead investigator on a $148,000 project from the Centrum för Hörsel och kommunikationsforskning in 2013 studying early intervention's effects on speech and language development in children with conductive hearing impairment. Awards include the 2016 Majblomman Diploma and chairing the American Speech and Hearing Association's International Issues Board in 2018. Key publications feature 'The high prevalence of otitis media with effusion in children with cleft lip and palate as compared to children without clefts' (2009, International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology), 'A longitudinal study of hearing and middle ear status in adolescents with cleft lip and palate' (2013, The Laryngoscope), and the chapter 'Hearing and Language' (2022). As a member of the University of Newcastle's Speech Pathology Research Network, she supports supervision and teaching efforts.