Dr Bellur Rajashekhar

Professor

Department of Speech and Hearing

Qualification: PhD ( Sp.& Hg.)

CURRENT ACADEMIC ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

    Dr B Rajashekhar teaches undergraduates and moderates presentations of postgraduates.

    He:

    • Supervises student clinicians
    • Guides master’s dissertations 
    • Guides PhD scholars.  

SUBJECTS CURRENTLY TEACHING

Subject Semester / Year
Communication Sciences; Part B- Audiology I Year BASLP; First Semester
Cochlear Physiology I year. M.Sc. Audiology; First Semester
Auditory Disorders I Year. M.Sc. Audiology; SecondSemester (shared)
Voice Science & Disorders I Year. M.Sc. SLP; Second Semester
Audiology in Practice II Year. M.Sc. Audiology; Fourth Semester (shared)

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

Degree Specialisation Institute Year of passing
PhD (Sp & Hg) Speech Language Pathology & Audiology All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, Mysore University 1991
Fellow of UICC Throat Cancer Rehabilitation International Union Against Cancer, Geneva 1991 & 1998
MSc (Sp & Hg) Speech Language Pathology & Audiology All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, Mysore University 1976
B.Sc. ( Sp.& HG.) Speech & Hearing All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, Mysore University 1974

Experience

Institution / Organisation Designation Role Tenure
Dept. of Speech & Hearing, Manipal College of Health Professions (MCHP), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal Professor Academic & Advisor Jan 2019-Till date
Dept of Speech and Hearing, MCHP, Manipal Founder Dean and Professor Administrative, Academic & Clinical Dec 1999 to Jan 2019
Dept of Speech and Hearing, SOAHS, Manipal Professor & Head, Dept.of Speech & Hearing October 1998 to October 2007
Dept of Speech and Hearing, SOAHS, Manipal Associate Professor & Chief of Audiology and Speech – Language Pathology October 1996 to October 1998
Dept of Speech and Hearing, SOAHS, Manipal Reader & In-charge Audiology and Speech – Language Pathology September 1992 to October 1996
Dept of Speech and Hearing, SOAHS, Manipal Asst Professor & Chief Audiologist & Speech Pathologist June 1994 to September 1992
Dept of Speech and Hearing, SOAHS, Manipal Lecturer in Speech Pathology and Audiology December 1982 to June 1984
Dept of Speech and Hearing, SOAHS, Manipal Audiologist cum Speech Pathologist October 1976 to December 1982

Tracing the evidence of phonological dyslexia in semi syllabic orthography

DST Project P.I.: SR/CSI/146/2013

AREAS OF INTEREST, EXPERTISE AND RESEARCH

Area of Interest

Voice, Laryngectomee rehabilitation, Clinical Audiology

Area of Expertise

Voice, Laryngectomee rehabilitation & Clinical Audiology

Area of Research

Both Audiology & Speech language Pathology

Professional Affiliations & Contributions

  • Life Member since 1982 of Indian Speech & Hearing Association. Had served as President for two consecutive terms and member of the Editorial Board of JAIISH & JISHA
  • Member, Academic Council of Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai
  • Member, Academic Advisory Committee, Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Hearing Impaired(Min. of Social Justice & Welfare, GOI)
  • Member of Experts Committee on Hearing Impaired, Accreditation Committee & Senior Inspector of Rehabilitation Council of India(Statutory body under Min. of Social Justice & Welfare, GOI)
  • Member, Executive Committee, All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, Mysore(Min. of Health, GOI)
  • Member, Academic Committee, National Institute of Mental Health, Secundrabad
  • Member of Board of Studies of Calicut, Mysore, Bangalore, RGU Universities
 

Awards & Recognitions

International

  • Awarded the “Visiting Clinician Fellowship” at the Head and Neck Cancer Rehabilitation Institute, Indianapolis, USA, in April 1987 for training in the surgical-prosthetic restoration of the voice of throat cancer patients. (The first Speech Pathologist to be awarded this fellowship in the country)
  • Awarded “International Cancer Research Technology Transfer Project (ICRETT)” by International Union Against Cancer, Geneva, to work and conduct a project at Charing Cross Hospital, London, the U.K. in 1991
  • Fellowship to attend the “International workshop on Cochlear Implants” at the Australian Bionic Ear and Hearing Research Institute, Melbourne and training at Cochlear Implant clinic of Royal Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Melbourne and Cochlear Inc. Sydney in March 1995
  • Awarded “International Cancer Research Technology Transfer Project (ICRETT)” by International Union Against Cancer, Geneva, for the second time to visit and observe the recent speech therapeutic methods for head & neck cancer patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY, the USA in 1998
  • Invited Resource and Chairperson of a scientific session at the SAARC ENT Congress in Colombo, Sri Lanka in Aug 2004
  • Invited by Operation Smile, Vietnam and USA as Advisor on SLP training program at Hanoi, Vietnam in 2004
  • Special Invitee and Guest speaker at the International Conference of Speech-language Pathology in South Korea in 2005
  • Special Invitee at the “ Widex International Pediatric Audiology convention in Ottawa, Canada in April 2006.
  • “Outstanding Contribution Award” in Asia Pacific Region presented at the 10th Asia Pacific Conference of Speech-Language and Hearing(APCSLH 2015) in Guangzhou, China in October 2015 ( 1st Indian to be conferred with this award).

National:

  • Awarded the Indian Speech and Hearing Association’s “Dr. BM Abrol Award” for the best paper entitled – “Surgical Voice restoration following laryngectomy by Tracheo-Oesophageal puncture with Blom-Singer’s Voice prosthesis – The basics, technique and our experience”, at Bombay in 1988
  • Awarded “Dr. B.M. Abrol Award” for the second time for the paper – “A Comparative acoustic analysis of two modes of alaryngeal speech in a single laryngectomee” at New Delhi in 1990
  • Awarded “ Dayalan-Vaachi award” for the best paper in Audiology at the ISHA annual convention at Coimbatore in 1996
  •  Recipient of “ Dr Rathna Oration Award” –the most prestigious award for contribution to the field of Speech & Hearing in India at the ISHA convention in Indore in 2007
  • Chairman of Institutional Research Committee
  • Recipient of Bharath Award by ISHA for contribution to the association and speciality in 2012.
  • First “Mr. S. Manoharan Oration” was instituted by the Indian Speech & Hearing Association-Tamil Nadu Chapter in 2014.
  • “The Laryngology & Voice Association Oration Award (Speech-Language Pathologist) from Laryngology & Voice Association in 2013Indian Speech and Hearing Associations. 
  • Recipient of Prof. Rais Ahmed Memorial Lecture of Acoustical Society of India in 2014.

 

CREDITS:

  • Member of the First ENT Specialist – Speech Pathologist team to have implemented surgical voice restoration by Tracheo-Oesophageal puncture Blom-Singer’s Voice Restoration by Tracheo-Oesophageal Puncture and Blom-Singer’s Voice Prosthesis for laryngectomees in India
  • Only Asian to present a paper at the world congress on Rehabilitation of Laryngectomees at London (1990)
  • Member of the team to design and manufacture the first indigenous voice prosthesis (HRA prosthesis) for laryngectomees
  • Initiator and first coordinator of a graduate (Degree) programme in Speech, Language Pathology and Audiology at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (Deemed University), Manipal, India
  • Switch on and mapping of the first 22 channels of Nucleus Cochlear Implant patient in India.
  • Professorial Chair, “CARF & Prof. Bellur Rajashekahr Chair in Head & Neck Cancer Research & Voice Restoration instituted in Manipal University in 2012.
  • Only Asian to present a paper at the world congress on Rehabilitation of Laryngectomees at London (1990).

Contributions:

  • Member of the Academic Councils of Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education & Research ( SRIHER ), Chennai; Chettinadu Deemed University, Chennai & SRM University, Chennai
  • Expert Committee Member of Rehabilitation Council of India ( RCI )
  • Member of the Research Committee of Dr S.R. Chandrasekar Institute of Speech & Hearing, Bengaluru
  • Member of the BOS of Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur
  • Member of the BOS of JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysuru

Work Experience

Organisation Role Tenure
Overseeing of Global Nursing program Vice President, MEMG Six years
Consultant, MUL Overseas academic operations

Morphosyntactic deficits in Malayalam-Speaking Broca’s Apahasics

2009-01-01

Asia Pacific Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing, 12:4,303-14,2009

Speech recognition in coherently-amplitude modulated noise (A)

2006-01-01

JASA 2006; 120-5: 3342

Surgical voice restoration in alaryngeal patients

1990-01-01

Indian J. Otolaryngology, 42: 107-111, 1990 (paper awarded “A01 E. Merck Award” for 1989.)

Speech Quality after Glossectomy

2000-01-01

I.J.of Plastic Surgery 2000; 33:12-16

Hearing anomalies following radiation therapy for head and neck cancers.

1996-01-01

I.J.of Experimental Biology 1996; 34:878-79

Morphosyntactic deficits in Malayalam-Speaking Broca’s Apahasics.

2009-01-01

Asia Pacific Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing, 12:4,303-14,2009

Evolution of voice restoration and the tracheo-oesophageal voice prostheses; Voice Restoration after total laryngectomy- Current Science and future perspectives

2009-01-01

Edited by Umanath K Nayak & Rehan Kazi, Byword Books Pvt.Ltd. 2009

Acoustic analysis of trained singers, untrained singers and non singers-A comparison

Dr B Prakash Bhoominathan

This was a comparative study of the voices of trained, untrained and non singers to understand the various acoustic parameters & the deviations associated with the three groups. The outcome of the study would prove beneficial to clinicians treating singers with voice problems.

Development of Communicative Gestures & Speech in Children during 8-18 months- A Cohort Study

Dr Veena KD

The objectives of the study were to profile the gesture development & their relation to speech development in children between 8 to 18 months. The profile found in this study would be of relevance to SLPs to understand the communication disorders in children and plan appropriate intervention strategies.

Quality of life in postlingually deaf adulta with cochlear implant

Dr Kanaka

Quality of Life(QOL)is made up of several components that people derive from the important aspects of their lives.With no studies focusing solely on QOL outcomes of cochlear implantees in the Indian context,this study investigated the effects of cochlear implants on the QOL of post lingually deaf adults.

Acoustic characteristics of Vowels in Telugu

Dr Krishna

The study was aimed at understanding the normal characteristics of Vowels in Telugu language. The vowel characteristics, such as Fundamental frequency, Formant Frequencies, Band Width and Vowel duration differ from language to langague and also influence by the dialects. The study did report the differences among dialects and gender variations.

The prevalence & impact of voice problems in call center operators

Dr Usha Devadas

The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of voice problems in CCOs in the Indian set up using self-reported questionnaire, identify the variables associated with increased risk of voice problems, determine their functional impact and perform a comparative acoustic and auditory perceptual analysis of their voices. The outcome of the study clearly placed this group under high risk for voice problems warranting the need for vocal education in CCOs for optimal productivity and vocal health.