National Center for Voice and Speech

History

The National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS) began as a "center without walls" and was officially established in 1990 with funding from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, part of the NIH. Its founding idea was that a group of institutions—the Wilber James Gould Voice Center at the DCPA, the University of Iowa, the University of Utah, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison—could work together more effectively than any single organization. Though spread across different locations, the members shared a goal of exploring how human voice and speech work, what limits them, and how they can be improved. In 1999, NIDCD stopped funding the center through its Multi-Purpose Research and Training Center program, but in July 2000, NCVS researchers voted to keep the center alive using single-project research grants, along with health communication, core, and training grants. The NCVS moved its main office to Denver in 2001, the city where Dr. Wilbur James Gould had earlier created a center focused on the voices of stage performers. The research team, led by Ingo Titze, includes scientists, clinicians, educators, engineers, and musicians from fields like speech-language pathology, physics, computer science, acoustics, vocal performance, biology, medicine, and engineering. Their work also leads them to train other researchers, practitioners, and the public, for example through the Summer Vocology Institute, which educates voice coaches and vocal health professionals.