Audiology is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing various testing strategies, audiologists aim to determine whether someone has normal sensitivity to sounds. If hearing loss is identified, audiologists determine which portions of hearing are affected, to what degree, and where the lesion causing the hearing loss is found. If an audiologist determines that a hearing loss or vestibular abnormality is present, they will provide recommendations for interventions or rehabilitation.
A communicative disorders assistant (CDA) performs hearing and speech-language screenings, prepares therapy materials, implements speech therapy, reports on therapy outcomes, performs routine maintenance on clinical equipment, and works with speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists to adjust therapy goals. While CDAs cannot perform assessments or set therapy goals, they are a vital part of the therapy team. CDAs are supervised by and work in conjunction with SLPs and audiologists.
The American Speech–Language–Hearing Association (ASHA) is a professional association for speech–language pathologists, audiologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists in the United States and internationally. The association reported over 234,000 members and affiliates in its 2023 report.
The All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, commonly known as AIISH (AYE-SH), is located in Manasagangotri, Mysore, India. It is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The institute was established in 1966 with a focus on training professionals for speech and hearing sciences.
Speech–language pathology (a.k.a. speech and language pathology or logopedics) is a healthcare and academic discipline concerning the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders, including expressive and mixed receptive-expressive language disorders, voice disorders, speech sound disorders, speech disfluency, pragmatic language impairments, and social communication difficulties, as well as swallowing disorders across the lifespan. It is an allied health profession regulated by professional bodies including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and Speech Pathology Australia. The field of speech-language pathology is practiced by a clinician known as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) or a speech and language therapist (SLT). SLPs also play an important role in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), often in collaboration with pediatricians and psychologists.
Judith Maginnis Kuster, aka Judith A. Kuster, is a certified speech-language pathologist and Professor Emerita from Minnesota State University, Mankato where she taught in the Department of Speech, Hearing and Rehabilitation Services for 25 years. She holds an MS in speech-language pathology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an MS in counseling from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is an ASHA FELLOW and a Board Recognized Specialist in Fluency BRSF-R.
Auditory processing disorder (APD), rarely known as King-Kopetzky syndrome or auditory disability with normal hearing (ADN), is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the way the brain processes sounds. Individuals with APD usually have normal structure and function of the ear, but cannot process the information they hear in the same way as others do, which leads to difficulties in recognizing and interpreting sounds, especially the sounds composing speech. It is thought that these difficulties arise from dysfunction in the central nervous system. This is, in part, essentially a failure of the cocktail party effect found in most people.
The Hanen Centre is a not-for-profit registered charitable organization, based in Toronto, Canada. It defines its mission as, “providing the important people in a child’s life with the knowledge and training they need to help the child develop the best possible language, social and literacy skills”.
Aural rehabilitation is the process of identifying and diagnosing a hearing loss, providing different types of therapies to clients who are hard of hearing, and implementing different amplification devices to aid the client's hearing abilities. Aural rehab includes specific procedures in which each therapy and amplification device has as its goal the habilitation or rehabilitation of persons to overcome the handicap (disability) caused by a hearing impairment or deafness.
Frank R. Kleffner was an American pathologist who was a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, noted for his contributions in the fields of speech and language pathology and hearing.
Speech and language impairment are basic categories that might be drawn in issues of communication involve hearing, speech, language, and fluency.
The Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (CJSLPA) / Revue canadienne d'orthophonie et d'audiologie (RCOA) is a peer-reviewed, online journal of clinical practice for audiologists, speech-language pathologists and researchers. It is published by Speech-Language & Audiology Canada.
Leo G. Doerfler (1919–2004) was the founder of the profession of audiology, the science of hearing and hearing disorders, in the early 1940s. He played a leading role in establishing professional bodies and educational standards for audiology practitioners.
Online speech therapy or telepractice is the use of technology to provide speech therapy via high speed internet, webcam, headset with microphone or any other form of communication. Online therapy is a clinical arrangement where the patient and a speech-language certified pathologist communicate and interact face-to-face over the Internet. The session involves a suite of therapeutic exercises including listening, speaking, reading and writing. The recorded videos are assessed by the pathologist to generate an activity report for evaluating progress and usage.
The International Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences and Research is managed by ASTHA Trust, founded by Mrs. Bishnupriya Mishra. The campus is located at KHANDAGIRI, in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India. The institution provides 3 year +10 month degree course called BASLP.
Canadian Hearing Services was founded in 1940 to provide services for deaf and hard of hearing people in Ontario. Services include instruction in American and Quebec sign languages, interpreter services, deafblind intervenors, audiology and speech–language pathology. The CHS advocates for the hearing impaired in Canada through the support of 9-1-1 texting, visual fire alarms, and access to the justice system. The CHS handles emergency situations in hospitals, emergency rooms, after-hours clinics, shelters, and police services.
The British Columbia Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (BCASLPA) is a Canadian non-profit society that supports over 1200 speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and supportive personnel in British Columbia. BCASLPA also provides information to the public about speech and hearing disorders and treatments, and connects people who have speech, language, swallowing, and hearing disorders with highly trained speech and hearing health professionals across BC.
The National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) is an institute devoted to the education and rehabilitation of individuals with speech-language and hearing impairments located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city in the Indian state of Kerala. It was established in 1997 on the initiative of the state of Kerala and is a self-financing affiliate college of the University of Kerala. Academics at NISH is unique in the sense that NISH has an integrated campus where students with hearing impairment and students with normal hearing share the same campus. Bachelor's level courses exclusively for students with hearing impairment include Degree courses in Fine Arts, Computer Science and Commerce affiliated to University of Kerala. On the other hand, NISH also provides RCI approved professional courses at undergraduate level and graduate level in Audiology and Speech Language Pathology as well as diploma courses affiliated to Kerala Health University (KUHS)
Despite having the largest economy in South America or Central America, Brazil is still considered a developing country due to its low gross domestic product, or GDP, per capita, low living standards, high infant mortality rate and other factors. "With regard to hearing health, the Brazilian government established the national policy for giving attention to hearing health in 2004, in which the Ministry of Health, considering the social magnitude of hearing impairment in the Brazilian population and its consequences, presented the proposal to structure a network of services set up by regions and in hierarchy that aims to be implemented in all federative units of Brazil, with integrated actions to promote ear health, hearing impairment prevention, treatment and rehabilitation organized and managed by the National Health System, Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), in Portuguese," writes Bevilacqua et al. (2010)
Catriona Margaret Steele is a Canadian clinician-scientist. She is a Full professor in the department of speech-language pathology at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute in the University Health Network.
