Sumitrajit Dhar, CCC-A

Vice President for Science and Research

Sumitrajit “Sumit” Dhar is an audiologist and hearing scientist interested in cochlear mechanics, otoacoustic emissions, and hearing health care. Sumit studied at the University of Mumbai (India), Utah State University, and Purdue University.

Dr. Dhar has been on the faculty at Northwestern University since 2004, where he is the Hugh Knowles Professor of Hearing Science in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. His research interests span the function of the inner ear, the sounds that are generated by the inner ear, and hearing health care in general. His early work focused on the models of otoacoustic emission generation and their experimental verification. One current focus of his work is on the development of sophisticated metrics and assays for the detection of early changes in cochlear health. More recently, Dr. Dhar’s laboratory has developed a parallel line of work on the affordability and accessibility of hearing health care—with the goal of finding, understanding, and dismantling barriers to the access and use of hearing health care services. Work in Dr. Dhar’s laboratory has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Office of Naval Research, the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, and others.

Over the years, Dr. Dhar has served ASHA on many committees and task forces. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Audiology and currently serves as the Chair of ASHA’s Journals Board. At Northwestern University, Dr. Dhar has overseen research in his laboratory, in his department as the Chair, and then as the Associate Dean for Research in the School of Communication. Sumit currently serves Northwestern University as the Associate Provost for Faculty. He serves as a reviewer for all of the major scientific journals in the CSD discipline and has reviewed research proposals for many federal and private funding agencies. He has also served as the Chair for several NIH study sections.