Speech & Language Pathologists Interpretation of Pure Tone Audiometrical Test

Abstract

Background: Facilitation of hearing impaired is important because a large amount of hearing impaired whose are still awaited for speech and language therapy. Persons With Disabilities (PWDS) statistics in Pakistan recently released the results of prevalence of Hearing impairment in Pakistan. The data indicates that deaf /mute population is n=380548 in number. This shows a large amount of Pakistani population facing the problem of speech and hearing. The current study was conducted to establish speech and language pathologists are being able to interpret the Pure Tone Audiometrical tests and to facilitate them with speech therapy. Objective: To evaluate how much well interpretation speech therapist can do in clinical setup. Methodology: The study was a quantitative survey based. The survey study was selected to analyze the knowledge of SLPs regarding the interpretation of pure tone audiometrical tests. Data was collected form 43 speech and language pathologist/therapists from Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi/Islamabad who were working with the hearing impairment. All the SLPs were qualified clinicians who were working in school and private clinic settings. The participants were MS degree in SLP and diploma in SLT holder was included in the study. But those whose experiences were less than year excluded from this study. A pre designed self-made questionnaire was designed which includes 20 items. Each question was valid to assess the knowledge regarding pure tone audiometrical test. Data was analyzed through SPSS. The result shows that speech and language pathologists were aware about the interpretation of audiometrical test and developing speech of hearing impaired persons. Conclusion: The study showed that SLP’s were having mild to moderate level interpretation skills which must be enhanced to upgrade the professional practice and better clinical practice in management of hearing issues.