The Journal of Speech Disorders
“…the Journal is designed to serve…the scientific field involving speech, voice and hearing disorders.”
- Journal of Speech Disorders, March 1936
Dr. G. Oscar Russell of Ohio State University was appointed editor of ASHA’s first journal and assumed total responsibility for its production. Just as ASHA’s first secretaries performed their duties without paid help, so did Russell who personally handled all the routine tasks related to editing a professional journal. Upon his recommendation, the Journal of Speech Disorders would be given to each member as part of their membership privileges. The first issue appeared March 1936 and consisted of 34 pages and contained four articles: Correcting the Mechanism Causing Most Foreign Brogue; Etiology of Cleft Palate and Harelip; Study of the Heart Rate During Stuttering; and Speech, Voice and Hearing Disorders Bibliography for Years 1933 to 1936. Seventy-five percent of the Association’s gross annual income in addition to all advertising and subscription revenues was devoted to the new journal and Russell served as editor from 1936-1943.
In 1947, in response to the increasing number of members interested in audiology after WWII, the Association changed its name to the American Speech and Hearing Association. With this came a change in the title of the journal to the Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. A feature that appeared in the journal during World War II was entitled “War Notes,” that reported on the activities of two committees; a Committee on Civil Defense, and a Committee on Rehabilitation that had been formed within the Association. The Committee on Civil Defense was concerned with speech correction needs arising from congested conditions in defense areas, emotional reactions of children and adults to war conditions and pre-induction speech correction in high schools, colleges and elsewhere. The Committee on Rehabilitation was concerned with helping to serve the needs of returning soldiers with hearing loss due to war conditions. The journal at this time published research reports, tutorial articles, clinical notes, clinical reports, book reviews, in addition to Association activities and official business.