Audio therapy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The audio therapy (from the Latin audio "I hear", of audire "hear" and θεραπεία , ancient Greek pronunciation therapeia , "Service", "treatment") is engaged in the rehabilitation of adult hearing impaired people. It supplements medical therapy and the provision of technical aids. For deaf or hearing-impaired children there is auditory-verbal education , which additionally or mainly deals with learning the spoken language.

Audiotherapy (English aural rehabilitation ) supports active dealing with the handicap. This includes developing a realistic self-image and learning suitable behavioral strategies. Hearing impaired people are mostly dependent on hearing systems. New hearing systems often deliver significantly different hearing impressions . Specific training facilitates habituation and enables differentiated listening and understanding. Technical aids such as hearing aids , cochlear implants and additional communication aids should be able to be used optimally. The promotion and maintenance of social skills should consolidate the social status and enable participation in society. By providing information on social law provisions, those affected are supported in making use of their rights.

Audiotherapeutic tasks

Audio therapists usually choose focal points from the general tasks, depending on their previous education and area of ​​activity:

  • Hearing and vision training with and without hearing systems
  • Handling of technical aids
  • Manual systems for the communication between hearing impaired people
  • Listening and communication training with cochlear implant users
  • Behavioral and communication training
  • Grief work and coping with illness ( coping strategies )
  • Support in accepting hearing impairment
  • Development of perspectives for shaping the professional and private life situation
  • Desensitization training for hypersensitivity to noise ( hyperacusis )
  • Coping strategies for tinnitus
  • Involvement of relatives
  • Providing information about service entitlements and service providers

Listening training

A central task of audio therapy is auditory perceptual training . It should make it possible to identify sound events through exercises and to improve speech recognition. Examples of exercises with increasing difficulty:

  • Sound detection
  • Directional hearing
  • Phoneme distinction
  • Understand words in peace
  • Comprehension of sentences with and without a reticle
  • Speech understanding in noise

The effectiveness of training individual auditory services ( order thresholds , pitch differentiation , attention exercises and dichotic hearing ) has also been proven in adults . The term hearing training is also used for hearing training for musicians.

Psychosocial support

A psychosocial support is for. B. the accompaniment in the mourning work that has to be done with the loss of hearing. This includes strengthening the inner attitude as a compensatory force. According to Richtberg, the severity of the hearing impairment does not depend solely on the objective loss of hearing, but to a large extent on how the person concerned reacts to the disorder and how they deal with it, creating freedom that enables a largely active life. Communication between the hearing impaired and hearing people is often associated with considerable difficulties and misunderstandings because of the limited understanding. The emotional perception function is often limited. In addition, there is the problem of the invisibility of hearing impairments and particular conflict stresses (for example in the workplace: alleged or objective disadvantages during promotions, lack of consideration for work colleagues or the assumption that colleagues are secretly making fun of the disability). Audio therapists develop solutions with clients and train empathy and social skills .

Situation in Germany

further education

Comprehensive rehabilitation measures for the hearing impaired are only available in a few inpatient facilities in Germany. In order to close this gap, a first training course was created on the initiative of the German Association of the Hard of Hearing (DSB) in 2000 in cooperation with the Academy for Hearing Aid Acoustics in Lübeck. Around 100 people had been trained by 2006. Today there were two further training opportunities:

  • Audiovision gGmbH awards the title “Audiotherapy (DSB)” after approx. 240 hours of teaching, internship, technical work and final examination. Most of the participants come from psychological and medical professional fields and / or are themselves hearing impaired.
  • European Union of Hearing Acousticians eV has been training hearing acoustics masters exclusively in around 90 hours since 2006 .

Audiotherapy guideline

Since August 2016 there is a guideline "Audiotherapy in hearing acoustics". The guideline was developed on the initiative of the European Union of Hörakustiker e. V. developed by a group of experts and includes, among other things, spatial, technical and organizational principles. In terms of content, audio therapy has a wide range of options; that takes up the guideline. Among other things, it is about education about the hearing deficit and its consequences, assistance with processing and acceptance of hearing loss, education about possibilities and limits of hearing improvement, hearing training, communication tactics and much more. In addition to the content of audio therapy, the guideline takes into account time structures and the composition of the audio therapy group. Feedback channels and the topic of evaluation serve quality assurance and sustainability. A glossary is available for interested professionals who have so far not dealt with much audio therapy. Terms such as “functional hearing training”, “hearing tactics” or “communication training” are explained.

job profile

Audio therapists work as employees in inpatient rehabilitation facilities, in counseling centers, with ENT doctors and hearing aid acousticians, or they work as freelancers. Audiotherapy is not a protected term or professional title. The freelance audio therapists strive for recognition as a profession and recognition as a provider of medicinal products . This would make it easier for the health insurance companies to assume the costs of outpatient measures.

swell

  1. ↑ Training curriculum. DSB. Audiotherapy unit. As of April 23, 2006
  2. ↑ Gebhardt, Christine: Effectiveness of training the auditory differentiation ability in the hearing impaired at the age of 55 to 70 years . Dissertation at the Faculty of Economics and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg i. Br. 2006. Available online here (PDF; 18.8 MB)
  3. ^ Richtberg, Werner: Research report 32 - hearing impairment as psycho-social suffering . Ed. The Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs. Bonn 1980.
  4. ↑ Richtberg, Werner: The importance of the inner attitude as a compensatory force, shown using the example of hearing impairment . Hörakustik 1/2004, 8-17. median publishing house, 2003
  5. ↑ Eitner, Johannes: On the psychology and sociology of people with hearing impairments . median-Verlag. 3rd edition 2009

literature

Web links