Communication Disorders

The ability to communicate using speech is one of the most effortless, taken-for-granted human faculties. Its importance, however, becomes readily apparent when an individual fails to acquire the skill, loses the skill, or cannot use it effectively. Hearing and speech are inextricably connected: Development of language and speech depends on the exposure to spoken language during the early years of life. The range of speech communication disorders that arise during a lifespan are many, and they fall in the province of the field of speech-language pathology and audiology. Speech communication is the major focus of these fields. However, speech-language pathologists also give due importance to other modalities of expression—writing and signing—in their work.

Speech communication can be viewed as transmission of a message from a speaker to a listener. The linguistic encoding and transmission of a message by a speaker is a complex process; the reception and recovery of the message by a listener is an equally complex process. The field of communication sciences (speech and hearing sciences) provides empirical and theoretical underpinnings for the field of communication disorders. These fields are truly interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on wide-ranging fields in the physical, biological, and psychosocial sciences. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists diagnose and treat (manage) a variety of speech communication disorders in multiple settings, such as hospitals, schools, and nursing homes. To get a brief introduction to a sample of communication disorders that a certified SLP and audiologist is called upon to diagnose and treat (manage), the communication process must be considered in some detail.