What is Aural Rehabilitation?
Aural Rehabilitation is the technical term used for the ongoing counselling and education process required to assist hard-of-hearing people learn how to effectively use their hearing instruments.
The Aural Rehabilitation process includes different strategies that help you move from hearing loss to hearing solutions.
Aural Rehabilitation for adults includes:
- Hearing aid orientation.
- Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) – In addition to hearing aids, other devices to aid your hearing ability include TV listening devices, FM systems, etc.
- Visual cues of facial expressions and body language.
- Speechreading or lip reading.
- Audiologic rehabilitation involves tips on how to improve communication.
Aural Rehabilitation for children
Aural rehabilitation in children would really be “habilitative,” as young children are usually learning the skill of hearing from scratch. A skill they didn’t have previously or at least not in its full capacity. Adults, on the other hand, usually go through rehabilitation to regain the skill of hearing at an appropriate level.
Habilitation methods for children include:
- Auditory perception training involves teaching children how to identify sounds, distinguish between those sounds and attach meaning to what they’re hearing
- Hearing aid and Assistive Listening Device (ALD) evaluation and orientation.
- Communication development – auditory, speech/language, and sign language.
- Literacy skills development.
- Visual cues of facial expressions and body language.
Aural Rehab at your fingertips
Aural rehabilitation is necessary for a smooth transition process, as you get used to wearing your hearing aids and using assistive listening devices. Your Audiologist or Hearing Instrument Specialist is a useful resource in your journey toward better hearing.
Hearing Solutions hopes to make using your hearing aids easier and has produced a how-to video tutorial series that shows patients how to use, clean, maintain and care for their hearing devices.
At Hearing Solutions, patients can always book an appointment to receive counselling for free, as part of their hearing aid package.
