Hearing, speech, and language disorders are everybody’s problem. Anyone of any age can have a communication disorder. Children can have communication disorders from birth; adults can develop disorders related to an injury or illness; and older people can experience gradual decline in their ability to hear, speak, and understand. Forty-two million Americans have some type of communication disorder.
Hearing: Some of the causes of hearing loss are chronic ear infections, heredity, birth defects, health problems at birth, certain drugs, head injury, viral or bacterial infection, exposure to loud noise, aging, and tumors.
Speech and Language: Some of the causes of speech and language disorders are related to hearing loss, cerebral palsy and other nerve/muscle disorders, severe head injury, stroke, viral diseases, mental retardation, certain drugs, physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate, vocal abuse or misuse, an inadequate speech and language models; frequently, however, the cause is unknown.
Types of Communication Disorders:
Speech and Language Disorders
Speech, language, and related disorders affect 14 million Americans. Speech, language, and related disorders make it difficult for people to express themselves or to understand the spoken or written word. Some common speech, language, and related disorders are
Fortunately, proper treatment can eliminate or minimize the isolating effects of most communication disorders.
Hearing Disorders
For most people, hearing is automatic. But hearing is a complicated process. Sound must be channeled into the ear, where the tiniest bones in the human body change sound waves into electrical impulses. These impulses move into the brain, which interprets their meaning. And it all happens instantaneously.
Through hearing, babies learn about the world around them, children unravel the code of language, and adults acquire information. When the physical process of hearing breaks down, as it does at some point during the lives of many in the United States, it affects academic, social, family, and career life. Of every 1,000 people, 95 reported a chronic hearing loss.
Middle ear infection—otitis media—is the second most common health problem among preschool children, outranked only by the common cold. Otitis media can cause temporary hearing loss and repeated episodes can damage hearing permanently. Otitis media requires immediate treatment; children who have frequent ear infections should also be evaluated by an audiologist and a speech-language pathologist to make certain their language development is not delayed.
Hearing loss in young children imperils their ability to learn language. Children who do not acquire basic mastery of language before the ages of 6 or 7 might never achieve fluency in any language. That is why it is so important to identify, as early as possible, the 2 in 100 children younger than 18 who have a hearing loss. Audiologists can accurately diagnose hearing loss within a few hours of birth. Children as young as 3 months can be fitted with hearing aids. Intervention to encourage normal development of language and speech can begin in the early months.
Injury, illness, or exposure to loud noise can cause hearing loss in adults. The loss may occur suddenly or so gradually that it goes unnoticed until it is quite severe. Many adults react to hearing loss by withdrawing from activities they previously enjoyed, needlessly resigning themselves to less productive lives. Most adults with hearing loss can benefit from today’s increasingly sophisticated hearing aid technology. Other assistive devices can keep people with hearing loss involved and active. Rehabilitation can help people learn new ways to communicate more effectively.