Your hearing, your speech, your health
Hearing loss may occur before birth
or afterwards due to ear infections, noise, medication side effects, medical conditions, chemical exposure, or aging. Since there are several different types of hearing loss, it is important to properly diagnose and appropriately treat hearing loss as soon as possible.
Hearing deficits may negatively affect overall health. This is true at any age
but is especially significant for children whose learning and development may be
seriously affected due to a hearing deficit. For adults, unmanaged hearing loss may affect employment, education, relationships, and general well-being. In addition, inner ear health is important because the inner ear controls balance and helps to prevent falls. Therefore,
if someone has a balance issue, an evaluation by an audiologist may be helpful.
A speech disorder may occur when a person cannot produce speech sounds correctly or fluently or has difficulty producing voice. This may occur in childhood or later in adult life. Often a speech issue in children is related to a hearing issue while in adults it may be
due to a medical condition that affects the brain and/or nervous system. Whether the onset is in childhood or adulthood, early evaluation by a speech therapist
is important to decide the best treatment to improve and/or correct a speech impairment.
For more information on how to recognize a speech, language, or hearing disorder at any age go www. asha.org/public/hearing andwww.asha.org/public/early- detection-of-speech-language-and- hearing-disorders.
Linda Walsh, RN
Parish Nurse,
The Catholic Church of St. Ann
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