Hearing Rehab Centers

Rehabilitation is a serious issue. In this page we will investigate causes, symptoms and treatment options for hearing problems as well as rehabilitation at hearing rehab centers. If you or someone you know has a hearing problem, we urge you to seek out hearing rehab centers in your area. Clinics, programs and rehabilitation are available locally.

Hearing rehab centers provide professional services to treat patients with hearing and speech disabilities. Hearing rehabilitation involves the diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss in infants, children, adults, and the elderly. There are several different therapies and treatments that patients are provided with at hearing rehab centers such as hearing device orientation, speech reading therapy, auditory training, listening strategies, sign language, and unisensory communication training.

With over one million children in the United States with a hearing impairment and almost one in ten adults having some form of hearing impairment as well, hearing rehab centers provide a valuable and crucial service. They offer both adults and children the ability to learn better and more effective methods of communication. Hearing rehab centers prevent developmental disabilities in infants and children, and they help adult patients to work and function normally with their hearing limitations. They also provide patients and their families with education on how to communicate with each other and adjust to make life easier at home.

The treatment that hearing rehab centers provide is intended to help patients’ overall communication abilities by improving their current methods of communication and developing new methods as well. Speech pathologists, audiologists, otologists, and medical doctors at hearing rehab centers work together to develop and implement treatment plans for patients. There may also be psychologists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, educators, and sensory device manufacturer representatives involved in the treatment process. Each of these hearing and medical professionals perform a specialized role in the treatment and recovery of the patient.

Types of Services at Hearing Rehab Centers

Adults and children have different services and treatments provided to them by hearing rehab centers because of the unique developmental phases and needs of each group. For an infant or child with hearing impairment, there is the potential for the development of learning disabilities, social or emotional problems, communication difficulties, and literacy problems. Hearing rehab centers treat infants and children extensively to prevent these problems and to utilize all of the latest available hearing technology and treatments to their fullest.

For adult and elderly patients, the treatment provided by hearing rehab centers is also intended to take into account similar potential problems such as emotional difficulties or communication difficulties that may affect work abilities, future learning potential, and communication abilities. The families of adults and children are educated by hearing professionals on how to live and communicate with patients who have hearing loss. Psychotherapy is utilized in many treatment plans for both children and adult patients to treat any emotional difficulties that result from hearing disabilities.

Treatment often involves training patients on how to utilize hearing aids or cochlear implants. This treatment includes training patients on how to troubleshoot problems with their hearing aid, how to adjust and utilize features of the hearing aid, and learning about its limitations. Patients are trained in other forms of communication as well. Patients may be trained in visual cue communication, sign language, and speechreading at hearing rehab centers. Speechreading helps patients read visual cues from a speaker’s mouth and their facial expressions. Sign language training helps patients communicate with hand signals. Visual cue communication training involves teaching patients how to communicate with body language and using other factors in the environment.

Benefits of Hearing Rehab Centers

Those who have any type of hearing impairment will benefit from treatment at hearing rehab centers because of the variety of services that are provided. Children with hearing disabilities who are treated at hearing rehab centers show improvement in learning abilities, faster developmental progress, more emotional stability, improvement in auditory perception and speech, and many other improvements. Adults learn how to manage their daily affairs with their hearing impairment, entirely new methods of communication, and how to be productive with their impairment.

Treatment for both adults and children results in improved hearing perception, the ability to utilize hearing devices more effectively, greater skill at speechreading, improved sign language abilities, therapy to improve the patient’s ability to work, and many other improvements. With hearing rehab centers, adults and children can significantly improve their functionality and communication capabilities almost to the level of a person without any hearing disability at all. An infant or child’s learning abilities can be brought to at least the average level of a child without any hearing impairment or even greater in some cases.

Hearing rehab centers train both children and adults on how to continually improve their communication abilities using their hearing device if they have one. Adults and children learn how to assertively communicate with others and effectively communicate their needs to others. Hearing impairments often come with social and emotional challenges for the hearing impaired as they strive to improve their abilities. Psychotherapy and counseling is provided to both children and adults to provide them with emotional support and coping skills for dealing with some of the potential frustrations that they may encounter.

Treatment at Hearing Rehab Centers

Treatment of the hearing impaired at hearing rehab centers involves the specialized services of various hearing professionals, and it is often an ongoing project. Audiologists help patients fit, manage, and use their hearing device if they have one. They are also involved with counseling and training patients on how to improve their communication processes. Speech-language pathologists are involved in training and improving patient communication skills, speechreading training, and speech and voice communication. They also help patients learn how to comprehend written, oral, and visual forms of communication. Speech-language pathologists also train patients in communication abilities that involve reading environmental cues and body language to gain additional communication information.

Every potential option for hearing restoration or rehabilitation is provided to patients so that they can explore and utilize whichever option is best suited for their needs. Unique treatment plans are developed for each individual patient based on their needs and hearing limitation. Treatment will involve the patient’s family for emotional support when appropriate, and the family or caretaker of the patient may also be trained in sign language to help improve communication at home.

Audiologists at hearing rehab centers train patients on the unique features of their device such as its size, power, limitations, noise reduction and feedback suppression capabilities, and cost. Counseling and psychotherapy can be provided to help patients who are suffering from disorders such as depression or anxiety related to their hearing loss or disability. Patients can overcome their hearing challenges and maintain a positive attitude throughout their treatment and rehabilitation with the social support and counseling provided by hearing rehab centers. Hearing rehab centers provide their patients with the benefit of treatment and support from licensed communication professionals and the latest advanced treatments for hearing disabilities.