Dr. Fitzpatrick is a Senior Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute, and a Full Professor in Audiology in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa. She is also the Director of the PhD program in Rehabilitation Sciences. Before joining the university, she held clinical and management positions at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Working in collaboration with colleagues at CHEO and the Ottawa Hospital, her research on hearing loss and its effects cover the spectrum from infants to adults.
Her current research is primarily supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and has also been supported by a CIHR New Investigator Award and a Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program career enhancement award. She is on the Board of Directors of the Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss. She is an Academic Editor with PLoS One, past the Editor of the Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and past Associate Editor of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.
Research Projects
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Hearing loss prevalence and hearing health among school-aged children in the Canadian Arctic
17/03/2020
One in five school-aged children was found to have hearing loss that is likely to affect classroom learning and social/emotional development. A hearing health strategy tailored to this population is critically needed.
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Progressive hearing loss in children with mild bilateral hearing loss
08/01/2020
One third of the children first diagnosed with mild hearing loss in the better ear now have moderate or worse hearing loss in both ears. These findings point to the importance of careful long-term monitoring of children who present with mild hearing loss.
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Pharmacologic and surgical therapies for patients with Meniere’s disease: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis
30/12/2019
Our planned systematic review will provide informative evaluations of existing treatments for management of Meniere’s disease.
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Auditory, social and behavioral skills of children with unilateral/mild hearing loss
19/12/2019
Results indicate that these children are functioning in most areas like their peers with typical hearing. Additional research on this population of children who may benefit from early identification and amplification is warranted.
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Candidacy for Amplification in Children With Hearing Loss: A Review of Guidelines and Recommendations
12/12/2019
There is considerable variation in the guidelines for mild bilateral and unilateral hearing loss with candidacy criteria ranging from 15 to 30 dB HL, and many guidelines recommend a case-by-case decision approach.