National Association for Hearing and Speech Action (NAHSA)

Guarding The Public's Communication Health

For many people, the simple act of communicating can be difficult. Significant numbers of older people, due to illness or age, struggle with speech, hearing, and swallowing. Every day, children are born with communication disorders that can hold them back educationally and socially.

Meanwhile, concern is growing among experts that overuse of entertainment media by the young may be harming their communication development.

Even bigger challenges lie ahead. Clear trends like the aging of the population point to the need for more information about communication disorders.

The consumer affiliate of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the National Association for Hearing and Speech Action (NAHSA) is the one organization focused solely on meeting that need.

Featuring members of ASHA's national network of audiologists and speech-language pathologists, NAHSA-supported initiatives provide the public—moms, dads, caregivers, teachers, and patients—with critical information for addressing and even preventing communication problems.

These initiatives include

• producing easy-to-understand materials on a wide range of topics, such as hearing aid education and how to monitor a child's communication development
• hosting special Twitter events where parents can get answers to important questions like how to help children with hearing or speaking difficulties
• supporting the award-winning Listen To Your Buds campaign, which teaches children healthy habits for using personal audio technology. NAHSA's 2012 campaign support included November's Buds In The Schools Week in San Diego and a joint sponsorship of the annual USO San Diego Holiday Concert themed "The Gift of Hearing"
• partnering on a poll, a joint initiative between AARP and ASHA, to highlight issues related to hearing among Americans ages 50 and older