What Are Communication Disorders?
Communication disorders can be grouped into two main categories:
- Hearing Disorders - People with Hearing Disorders do not hear sounds clearly. Such disorders may range from hearing speech sounds faintly, or in a distorted way, to profound deafness.
- Speech and Language Disorders - these disorders affect the way people talk and understand. These disorders may range from simple sound substitutions to the inability to use speech and language at all.
What Are the Signs of a Communication Disorder?
Hearing
Hearing loss might be suspected when a person does not always hear sounds such as telephone or doorbell ringing, turns his or her ear toward the source of sound, frequently asks the speaker to repeat, turns the TV or radio up too loud, or shows obvious signs of confusion or misunderstanding of speech.
Speech and Language
Disorders might be present when a person's speech or language is different from that of others of the same age, sex, or ethnic group; when a person's speech and/or language is hard to understand; when a person is overly concerned about his or her own speech; or when a person frequently avoids communicating with others.
Are Communication Disorders Serious Problems?
Yes. The ability to communicate is our most human characteristic. Human communication is essential to learning, working, and social interaction. Impaired communication can affect every aspect of a person's life.
Common Communication Disorders
Hearing
- Conductive: sound is not conducted efficiently through the outer and/or middle ear, causing speech and other sounds to be heard less clearly or to sound muffled. This kind of hearing loss can often be medically or surgically corrected.
- Sensorineural: caused by damage in the inner ear or nerve pathways to the brain. Certain sounds are heard less distinctly than others, causing distortion and reduced understanding of speech. Although this kind of hearing loss is usually not medically correctable, people with sensorineural hearing loss can often be helped by using a hearing aid or other amplification device.
- Mixed: a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.
Language
- Delayed Language: a noticeable slowness in the development of the vocabulary and grammar necessary for expressing and understanding thoughts and ideas.
- Aphasia: the loss of speech and language abilities resulting from stroke or head injury.
Speech Disorders
- Stuttering: an interruption in the rhythm of speech characterized by hesitations, repetitions, or prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases, for example, cow . . . boy, tuh-tuh-tuh-table, ssssun.
- Articulation Disorders: difficulties with the way sounds are formed and strung together usually characterized by substituting one sound for another (wabbit for rabbit), omitting a sound (han for hand), or distorting a sound (shlip for sip).
- Voice Disorders: inappropriate pitch (too high, too low, never changing or interrupted by breaks); loudness (too loud or not loud enough); or quality (harsh, hoarse, breathy, or nasal).
What Causes Communication Disorders?
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.
What Can You Do If You Suspect a Speech, Language, or Hearing Problem?
A thorough evaluation by a speech-language pathologist or audiologist is needed to determine a person's communication strengths and weaknesses. After this evaluation, the speech-language pathologist or audiologist will be able to provide a plan for meeting individual needs.
What Is a Speech-Language Pathologist?
A speech-language pathologist is a professional educated in the study of human communication, its development, and its disorders. By evaluating the speech and language skills of children and adults, the speech-language pathologist determines if communication problems exist and decides the best way to treat these problems.
What Is an Audiologist?
An audiologist is a professional educated in the study of normal and impaired hearing. The audiologist determines if a person has a hearing impairment, what type of impairment it is, and how the individual can make the best use of remaining hearing. If a person will benefit from using a hearing aid or other listening device, the audiologist can assist with the selection, fitting, and purchase of the most appropriate aid and with training the individual to use the aid effectively.
Where Can You Find Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Services?
Speech-language pathologists and audiologists provide professional services in many different types of facilities such as:
- public and private schools
- hospitals
- rehabilitation centers
- nursing care facilities
- community clinics
- colleges and universities
- private practice
- state and local health departments
- state and federal governmental agencies
A speech-language pathologist or audiologist will have a master's or doctoral degree and should hold a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and/or a license from the state.
For help in locating a qualified audiologist or speech-language pathologist in the Salt Lake City area, write or call:
University of Utah Speech-Language-Audiology Clinic
417 Wakara Way
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
(801) 581-3506
For help in locating a qualified audiologist or speech-language pathologist outside of Salt Lake City, write or call:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
10801 Rockville Pike
Rockville, Maryland 20852
(800)638-8255 (Voice or TTY)
(301)897-8682 (Voice or TTY)
E-mail: actioncenter@asha.org
