ABSTRACT
Leaders in audiology feel that the millennium brings challenges to our field: turf
battles for clients and for insurance reimbursement, dismal sensory aid use and satisfaction
rates, and the ever-increasing threat of technology edging us out of jobs. The best
response to these challenges is aural rehabilitation. Aural rehabilitation can cut
to the core of what we need to do to rehabilitate our patients. Patients can find
a hearing loss lifestyle that will allow them to live as a person with a hearing impairment,
and not as a hearing-impaired person. Family members and hearing health care professionals
must provide a nonstigmatizing and supportive atmosphere. Patients must recognize
the impact of hearing loss on their life, develop the skills necessary to stay in
conversations, and evolve a new social identity and be confident in it. The psychosocial
research of the last decade would suggest that when we go above and beyond the provision
of sensory aids and communication skill building, our patients can experience an improved
quality-of-life. If we return to our rehabilitative roots and adopt these practices,
our patients will experience greater satisfaction and success, and we will justly
consider ourselves the professionals best suited to provide comprehensive hearing
health care for life.
KEYWORD
Aural rehabilitation - psychosocial - communication strategies - quality-of-life
