Technological Innovations in Hearing and Speech

Technological innovations are changing the main focus of speech language pathology and audiology.  

Like journalists today, speech therapists and audiologists are required to understand how to use the latest technology for therapy and diagnosing.  An audiologist needs to describe and convey to their patients which technologies, like hearing aids and cochlear implants, are most suitable for the individual, and answer any relatable questions.  So too, some speech therapists are looking to include technology into their therapy sessions.  For example, author and speech therapist Joan Green is the founder of Innovative Speech Therapy.  In Innovative Speech Therapy, Green’s goal is to incorporate technology and computers into treatment.  Another way to incorporate technology into speech therapy is through the iPad.  There are currently over one hundred applications on the iPad that allow a patient to help improve their speech.

However, not everyone agrees that new technology is beneficial for speech language pathology and audiology.

Because of technological improvements like cochlear implants we now have new ways to help deaf people hear.  Cochlear implants are surgically inserted to stimulate the auditory nerve in the ear.  To most this would seem like a positive advancement.  However, it has sparked heated debate in some communities, a heated debate between the deaf community and the hearing community.  The deaf community views cochlear implants as a threat to their deaf culture.  Deaf culture is defined as a separate culture of its own; a culture of sign language, values, and unity.  To the deaf culture community, cochlear implants are seen as a major threat that can tear their culture apart.  The cochlear implants are like missionaries trying to convert the deaf culture into hearing culture.

Two questions for a professional:

1)   Can speech technologies, like the iPad applications, replace human therapy or do they go hand in hand?

2)   Should cochlear implants and other technologies be seen as a threat to deaf culture?