National Association for Hearing and Speech Action (NAHSA)

Educating The Public About 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.

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 educating the public about communication health. 

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.

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics and schools. Every school district across the United States has an SLP working with students who have a wide range of communication disorders, from stuttering to traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Audiologists are professionals who evaluate and treat hearing loss, tinnitus, balance, and related disorders, and recommend and provide appropriate treatment including hearing aids, audiologic rehabilitation, and hearing assistive technology systems. These are the professionals to look to for hearing screening and testing for individuals of all ages, from the youngest to the oldest patients.

NAHSA provides an easy way for consumers to find a qualified audiologist or speech-language pathologist through ASHA ProFind. The association is working on behalf of the public in other ways as well including

• funding media outreach across the country providing guidance to parents on early stuttering warning signs;
• 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 communication disorders;
• supporting the Healthy Communication & Popular Technology Initiative, which informs the public about healthy usage of popular technology;
• partnering on the toolkit Communicating With Baby: Tips and Milestones From Birth to Age 5, a joint initiative between ReadAloud 15 MINUTES and ASHA that details communication milestones and tips for supporting children’s development through daily reading.