Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:42:04.739Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Speech and voice rehabilitation in selected patients fitted with a bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Julie Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Speech and Language Therapy, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust, Birmingham, UK.

Abstract

Within the Birmingham osseointegrated implant programme there have been several patients with severe pre-lingual conductive hearing loss. The majority of these have been patients with Treacher Collins syndrome.

There are characteristic features of speech and voice in those with long-standing conductive hearing loss. In addition, the associated abnormalities of jaw, teeth and palate may amplify the problem. There may be spontaneous improvement in features such as voice pitch, quality and intensity following the fitting of a BAHA. However, in those with a pre-lingual hearing impairment, speech therapy may be necessary. Patients assessed as suitable for BAHA have a full assessment of communication skills including audio recording of speech and voice. Post-operative training improves auditory discrimination and perception and is followed by training in the production of the newly perceived speech sounds.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cowie, R., Douglas Cowie, E. (1983) Speech production in profound post-lingual deafness. Hearing Science and Hearing Disorders (Lutman, M. E., Haggard, M. P., eds.) Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Enderby, P. (1982) Outcome measures in speech therapy: impairment, disability, handicap and distress. Health Trends 24: 6164.Google Scholar
Massengill, R. Jr, Willis, V., Gerther, L., Fetterolf, J. (1971) Documentation of syndactyly and Treacher Collins Syndrome for possible concomitant speech disorders. British Journal of Disorders of Communication 6: 4551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Metz, D. E., Samar, V. J., Schivetti, N., Sitler, R. W. (1990) Acoustic dimensions of hearing impaired speakers' intelligibility: Segmental and suprasegmental characteristics. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 33: 476487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyerson, M. D., Nisbett, J. B. (1987) Nager syndrome: an update of speech and hearing characteristics. Cleft Palate Journal 24(2): 142151.Google ScholarPubMed
Parker, A. (1983) Speech conservation. In Rehabilitation and Acquired Deafness. (Watts, W., ed.) Croom Helm, London, pp 234250.Google Scholar