Aural Rehabilitation & Lipreading
Aural rehabilitation involves assisting children and adults with hearing impairments to overcome their disability so that they can meet the daily communication needs in their lives. Hearing loss that is present at birth is called congenital hearing loss. With newborn hearing screening programs, many children with congenital hearing loss are identified at birth so that aural rehabilitation efforts with these children and their families can begin as early as possible. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists work closely with the child and family to maximize the residual hearing through placement of hearing aids, auditory training and speech-language therapy. Adults who acquire a hearing loss also benefit from aural rehabilitation involving placement of hearing aids, speechreading techniques, assertive listening and use of assistive listening devices.