Elizabeth Benson’s parents were both deaf, so she learned to sign from an early age. She studied at Towson and George Washington Universities and then joined the Gallaudet faculty in 1926, teaching audiology, sign language, and lip-reading. She earned a MA at Gallaudet in the same year, and in 1937 added a law degree at Washington College of Law (later incorporated into American University). During World War II, Benson temporarily left Gallaudet to join the American Women Voluntary Services and the Women’s Army Corps, supporting and educating soldiers who had been deafened during the war. Her contributions to the war effort led to her becoming the first woman in the WAC commissioned as a lieutenant. After the war, in 1950, she became Gallaudet’s dean of women, following Elizabeth Peet. Gallaudet awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1962. Benson was known as a skilled signer and often served as an interpreter for important functions at Gallaudet and elsewhere, including interpreting for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. She was a co-founder of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and worked as an associate editor of the American Annals of the Deaf.

Benson retired in 1970 after a 44-year career at Gallaudet and passed away in 1972. She is a member of the Gallaudet Hall of Fame, and Benson Hall is named in her honor.