Skip to main content
Article
Speech, Language, and Hearing Disorders in a University Clinic in Brazil
Howard Journal of Communications (2003)
  • Dr Joan Payne, Howard University
Abstract
To date, few studies have described speech, language, or hearing disorders or services in South America. This investigation was conducted as an examination of nearly 5,000 clinical records from a 3-year period in a university speech, hearing, and language clinic at the Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil. The findings document that hearing loss from middle ear and sensorineural pathologies was the predominant communication disorder (N=4,728). Speech and language disorders from a variety of causes were diagnosed and treated in a small percentage of the client population (n=194). This is in sharp contrast to many of the client populations in many speech, language, and hearing clinics in the United States. However, the larger numbers of hearing disorders may be explained in part by a traditional emphasis on audiology in Brazil, significant health risks to hearing among the poor, and a more recent emergence of speech-language pathology training in Brazilian universities.
 
Publication Date
January, 2003
DOI
10.1080/10646170304268
Citation Information
Joan Payne. "Speech, Language, and Hearing Disorders in a University Clinic in Brazil" Howard Journal of Communications (2003)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joan-payne/4/