The extent to which research programs involving human subjects are productive depends, in[unreadable] large part, on the ability to efficiently recruit subjects to participate in studies. In general, the widest[unreadable] impact of research involving humans is achieved when participants represent both genders and[unreadable] majority and minority populations. Individual research programs in communication sciences and[unreadable] disorders may have specialized subject needs, including subjects with hearing loss, infants,[unreadable] children, users of either hearing aids or cochlear implants, or children with normal speech and[unreadable] language. Independent efforts by individual research programs to recruit subjects meeting both[unreadable] general and specific needs would be time-consuming, inefficient, and less successful relative to[unreadable] what can be achieved with a more centralized recruitment function. As in the previous cycle, the[unreadable] goals for the continuation of the Human Research Subjects Core (HRSC) are to support the[unreadable] research process by providing access to a large pool of individuals who are interested in[unreadable] participating in research. Through concerted and broadly based recruitment efforts, the HRSC[unreadable] provides access to subjects meeting both general and specific requirements, and, thus, provides[unreadable] benefit to virtually every research program at BTNRH that involves humans as subjects. It will[unreadable] continue and expand minority-recruitment efforts that would be difficult, if not impossible, for[unreadable] individual programs. It will continue to provide additional services related to the preparation of IRB[unreadable] and NIH grant applications, and IRB annual reports and NIH progress reports. It will continue to[unreadable] provide additional layers of security for patient/subject confidentiality and evaluations of the subjectconsent[unreadable] process. It will expand the clinical information contained in the HRSC database by[unreadable] including speech, language, and vocabulary scores from standardized clinical tests. Most[unreadable] importantly, the HRSC is expected to have a positive impact on both the quality and quantity of the[unreadable] human-research studies at BTNRH.