The University of South Alabama Speech and Hearing Clinic is operated and maintained as a clinical instruction facility of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology in the College of Allied Health Professions. The clinic serves two primary purposes: to provide services in speech, language and hearing to citizens of Mobile and surrounding areas, and to provide the supervised clinical experiences needed by the students for graduation and to obtain professional licensure/certification. Because the USA Speech and Hearing Clinic functions as a service facility and teaching facility, activities and procedures address both purposes. Diagnostic and treatment services in speech, language and hearing are provided to persons of all ages and with all types of speech-language and hearing disorders.

The policies established for the Speech and Hearing Clinic are consistent with policies established by the university, college and department. Clinic policies also follow the Scopes of Practice in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, and the Code of Ethics established by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. No discrimination is made according to ethnic origin, gender, age, religion or disability in evaluation and treatment of clients.

The Privacy Rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) took effect April 14, 2003. Although client confidentiality has always been a priority at the clinic, the new federal regulations mandated that the clinic, being a Covered Entity, establish further safeguards for protected health information (PHI). In compliance with HIPAA, all faculty and staff, as well as students involved directly or indirectly with client care, receive training regarding the Privacy Rules. Additionally, the clinic makes available to each client a Notice of Patient Privacy.

The Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology is fully accredited in both Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology by the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Changes in policies and procedures of the USA Speech and Hearing Clinic will be made from time to time in order to maintain compliance with accreditation requirements.