Speech and Hearing Center is a place that professionally examines and evaluates various diseases and problems related to hearing, vestibular function, and communication. And there is helps medical staff make accurate diagnoses, and provides rehabilitation treatment. It consists of a speech-language and voice assessment and therapy room, a audiometric test room, and a vestibular function test room.
Speech-Language-Voice Assessment and Treatment Room
The Speech-Language-Voice Assessment and Therapy Room is a place to evaluate speech, language, and communication difficulties for pediatric and adults, and implement appropriate treatments. It aims to maximize the patients’ communication skills and ultimately improve their quality of life by approaching their problems from wholistic and comprehensive perspectives and providing detailed and specialized assessment and personalized intervention tailored to individual’s specific needs.
We meet to various patients such as language development delay, childhood language disorder, hearing impairment, received cochlear implant surgery, voice disorder, cleft palate, developmental disorder, and brain dysfunction. They are referred to otolaryngology, pediatric plastic surgery, pediatric psychiatry, pediatric adolescence, neurology, neurosurgery, and rehabilitation medicine. The professionally trained speech therapists assess the patient's language, articulation, resonance, voice, and communication skills, perform treatment, and support active rehabilitation through counseling and education for parents and families.
Audiometric Test Room
The Audiometric Test Room is where various audiometric tests, along with a hearing sensitivity test, are performed to provide basic information about patients with related symptoms such as hearing loss, tinnitus, and dizziness for accurate diagnosis and prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. The tests are conducted on infants, children, and adults, and both objective and subjective tests are performed.
Pure tone audiometry and speech audiometry are performed as basic tests to prescribe hearing aids to patients with hearing loss. Objective tests such as the auditory brain stem response test and evoked otoacoustic emission test are performed when necessary. Based on the result of tests above, patients are prescribed with the most suitable hearing aid for them, which is adjusted and managed in an optimal condition at our test room.
If the hearing aid does not help, the patient goes through cochlear implant surgery. We are also responsible for the adjustment and management of implant after the surgery.
Vestibular Function Test Room
At the Vestibular Function Test Room, Videonystagmography, video caloric test, rotation chair test, VEMP(Vesticular Evoked Myogenic Potentials), video head impulse test, and posturography (SOT) are performed on patients who experience dizziness, feel off-balance, are suffering from fallen otoliths, before and after a surgery in the auditory nerves or the brain, or have facial paralysis or hearing loss to identify the location and degree of the lesion.
The Videonystagmography (VNG) is a test performed to observe and record the eye movements of a patient while wearing goggle with a video camera attached to assess the dizziness that they experiences in different postures. If dizziness is caused by a fallen otolith, the treatment is to return the fallen otolith to its place.
The video caloric test compares the reaction of pupil movements by alternately stimulating the left and right ear with 30℃cool water and 44℃ hot water to investigate the presence of unilateral or bilateral vestibular hypofunction.
The rotation chair test is performed to understand the overall vestibular function by setting the patient’s head to a chair that is moved by a computer-controlled motor and applying rotary stimulation through several frequencies from the left to right. This is useful when the presence or degree of vestibular hypofunction is investigated.
When a vestibular disorder is identified, vestibular rehabilitation exercises and treatment are provided to restore the patient’s daily activity and reduce dizziness.