Expanding speech pathology services for older people with hearing impairment

Hearing impairment is the most common communication disability in the older population, yet few speech pathologists provide a service to this group. The aim of this paper is to present a rationale and describe a new role for speech pathologists working with older people who have hearing impairment, both those living in the community and those in aged care. The major issues for this population are the high prevalence of hearing impairment, the fact that the majority of older people do not seek audiological interventions, and the serious impact of the impairment on communication and on the quality of life of older people and their families. It is recommended here that speech pathologists expand their current roles with this population and consider interventions that optimize the communication of older people with hearing impairment and their frequent conversational partners (using programs such as Active Communication Education (ACE) described here), as well as taking greater responsibility for hearing issues in aged care facilities and promoting interventions that enhance the communicative environment for older people with a hearing impairment in an aged care facility