Faculty

The voice and Swallowing clinic was established in February 2004 as a collaboration between Robert N. Strominger, M.D., an Otolaryngologist in the Ithaca area and the Ewing Speech and Hearing Clinic at Ithaca College. As of spring 2020 the clinic is a partnership with Ashu Ruparelia, M.D. and Cayuga Ear, Nose, Throat - Head and Neck Surgery.  

Speech Pathology Graduate clinicians at Ithaca College provide evaluations to patients with voice and swallowing disorders under the supervision of a Speech Pathologist / faculty member at Ithaca College.

This comprehensive diagnostic clinic provides the students the opportunity to work in a medical setting and to interact with physicians. In addition, the clinic exposes them to the use of state of the art technology and the most current evaluation procedures available. These procedures include:

Videostroboscopy - a specialized diagnostic procedure  in which a strobe light source is used in conjunction with a laryngoscope to to better view the vocal cords and vibratory pattern.  With the use of a camera and the recording system, the exam can be viewed and studied later by the doctor and the students.  

Functional Endoscopic Evaluations of Swallowing (FEES)- a specialized exam that allows direct assessment of swallowing skills. The use of this exam allows the clinician to try compensatory and therapeutic swallowing strategies and to determine their effectiveness. This valuable information helps to determine the dietary management and  in turn decreases the probability of aspiration pneumonia. This exam is non-radioactive and therefore is a great alternative to the modified barium swallow study.