Adults
Diagnosis
Treatment
Beyond the Test Booth
BEYOND THE TEST BOOTH
- Communication Therapy
“I suffer from neuro-sensory hearing loss. My left ear is completely deaf. My right ear has a moderate loss. With my hearing aid alone, I miss a great deal of most conversations, which has started to become a real problem when talking with friends, colleagues and family. Since starting communication therapy, I have learned how to look at the speaker’s lips, face and gestures to increase my understanding of language. The one-hour weekly speechreading lesson requires a great deal of hard work, time and patience, but the rewards are well worth it. Speechreading has improved my life, my relationship with my wife, and has helped me to feel confident when communicating.”
-League Client
The Shelley and Steven Einhorn Communication Center at the League for the Hard of Hearing helps the individual with a hearing loss connect to life and remain an active member of society. All services are provided by certified and licensed speech-language pathologists. The program strives to maximize the quality of life for each individual and at the League for the Hard of Hearing new ideas and approaches are constantly evaluated and integrated to enhance services for people with impaired hearing.
Communication Therapy at the League starts with a Communication Therapy Evaluation, audiological evaluation and otological evaluation.
The Communication Evaluation will assess a person’s ability to understand speech through:
- listening (or audition) alone
- speechreading (lipreading) alone
- a combination of listening and speechreading
The League’s speech-language pathologists may also evaluate an individual’s use of language, speech and their voice quality. The speech-language pathologist will review the results and may make recommendations for:
- Speechreading
- Audiotherapy
- Speech and/or Language Therapy
- English as a Second Language
- Post Cochlear Implant Audiotherapy
SPEECHREADING (Lipreading)
Speechreading therapy is an important program at the League. The primary goal is to develop each person's use of visual clues that occur during the communication process. Visual clues include mouth movements, facial expressions, gestures and body positions. All of these visual clues "say" something specific. Individuals are encouraged to identify the key elements and concepts of what is being said rather than to recognize each word in a sentence. The abilities to synthesize information and develop flexibility are emphasized.
Speechreading therapy is generally done in small groups, which meet for weekly one-hour sessions. Levels range from basic orientation/movements (encompasses the fundamentals of speech movements, communication strategies, and communicative assertiveness) to advanced (complex communications and situations).
An important goal of the speechreading program is to provide individuals with skills to be more assertive when communicating, and to develop strategies to improve one’s communicative effectiveness. In addition, the group sessions are supportive forums for sharing communication problems with people who may be experiencing similar situations.
For those adults who experience a sudden profound hearing loss which leaves them with little or no residual hearing, intensive individual speechreading therapy may be recommended.
AUDIO-THERAPY
(Auditory Perceptual Training)
The goal of an Audio-Therapy program is for a hard or hearing or deaf adult to make the best use of whatever hearing they have, also known as their residual hearing. This individualized program may be recommended if:
- Your audiologist has told you that your word recognition skills are poorer than would be expected based on your audiogram.
- You have essentially good listening skills in quiet settings, but experience inordinate difficulty comprehending speech from a distance or in the presence of background noise.
- You are experiencing difficulty adjusting to the use of a hearing aid or cochlear implant.
Audio-Therapy helps the person with hearing loss to practice listening and repeating sentences, which are read aloud, without looking at the speaker. The speech-language pathologist, following an evaluation, makes treatment recommendations based on an individual’s specific needs. The ultimate goal is to maximize communication competence for everyday communication.
INDIVIDUAL SPEECH AND/OR LANGUAGE THERAPY
Individual speech and/or language therapy may be needed by those individuals who were born with a hearing loss or who have experienced long-standing early onset hearing loss. The focus of this program is to improve an individual’s oral language skills and may include:
- Vocabulary development and usage
- Voice production
- Articulation improvement.
The speech-language pathologist, following an evaluation, makes treatment recommendations based on an individual’s specific needs.
ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
The League has one of the only programs in the United States that offers English as a Second Language (ESL) to individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. The League has provided ESL service to people who speak Russian, Chinese, and numerous other foreign languages.
ESL is offered to adults who have functional spoken language skills in their native language but minimal proficiency in English. People with hearing loss who experience significant difficulty hearing clearly and understanding in large classroom settings, at a distance from speakers, in groups and where there is interference of background noise have extreme difficulty in cannot benefit and learn in typical adult education settings. The program at the League is offered individually or in small groups where there is the opportunity for slow presentation and repetition of language. An eclectic approach is used, and the program is designed with an individual’s specific needs or vocational goals in mind.
COCHLEAR IMPLANT AUDIO-THERAPY
A cochlear implant is a technological breakthrough that improves a severe-to-profoundly deaf person’s ability to hear and therefore to communicate, providing there is proper rehabilitation. The ultimate level of functioning is highly variable across individuals, but today, with the proper rehabilitation, many individuals can achieve greatly improved understanding of speech, and many can talk on the telephone. The procedure is often described as “miraculous” by people who have received them, and by their families and loved ones.
After implantation and initial stimulation (the implant is “turned on”), clients can attend individual therapy sessions at the League to learn how to listen via the cochlear implant. Length of therapy varies greatly, most often depending on the length of time the person experienced a severe/profound hearing loss and the degree to which the person relied on listening prior to getting the cochlear implant.
For more information about our services, contact The Shelley and Steven Einhorn Communication Center
917-305-7840 phone
917-305-7849 fax
Communications@lhh.org
