Aural Rehabilitation is an integral component in the overall care of individuals with hearing aids. Often, a person needs hearing aids and chooses not to purchase or wear them. During that time, the hearing nerves and the areas of the brain responsible for hearing are deprived of various sounds and they atrophy, or weaken. The human body works best on a “use it or lose it” basis. The longer we do not use certain muscles in our body, the weaker they get.
When it comes to hearing and our brain, if there is a lack of auditory stimulation for a long period of time, the part of our brain that is responsible for processing and converting speech sounds into words gradually loses the ability to recognize those sounds and forgets them. When your brain is unable to recognize a sound it cannot convert it into the correct word, making it difficult to understand everyday conversations and words. This is why a lot of patients state that they can hear what others are saying but cannot understand the words that are being said.
Aural rehabilitation encompasses a wide set of practices aimed at optimizing a person’s ability to participate in activities that have been limited as a result of untreated hearing loss. It can help someone effectively adjust to and manage his or her hearing aids. Through a combination of auditory training, communication strategies, and counseling aural rehabilitation can help to reduce the impact hearing loss has on an individual’s quality of life.