An audiologist-phoniatrist is a doctor who deals with diseases of the voice and hearing organs.
These include the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of abnormalities related to the physiological development of speech, voice, language and speech disorders in children and adults.
It also treats abnormalities in the auditory organ, which can cause, among other things.
abnormal speech development (especially in children) and speech problems due to congenital or post-traumatic deafness.
Phoniatrics and audiology are one specialty within otorhinolaryngology. The MEDINCUS Hearing and Speech Center’s audiological and phoniatric outpatient clinics include:
- Diagnosis and treatment of ear diseases (inflammatory and non-inflammatory, congenital defects), hearing disorders (hearing loss, tinnitus, auditory hypersensitivity, central auditory processing disorders) and balance disorders
- Diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of voice and speech disorders in various pathological conditions of the nose, pharynx and larynx (inflammatory and non-inflammatory) and of peripheral or central origin (delayed speech development, speech defects, adult aphasias and childhood dysphasias, dysarthria)
- After diagnosis, we qualify according to the patient’s condition for the appropriate treatment – conservative, surgical (middle ear, hearing implant surgery, rhinoplasty or laryngo-surgery), hearing prosthesis, physical therapy, rehabilitation of hearing, speech or balance organs
Research and other services:
- otoscopic, videotoscopic and diagnostic microscope examinations
- acumetric hearing tests
- evaluation of audiometric hearing tests for children and adults
- indirect and direct laryngoscopy examinations of the larynx using endoscopy with rigid optics and soft optics
- stroboscopic examination of the larynx
- voice load tests, voice range
- diagnosis of voice and speech disorders in children
- treatment with vibro-aerosols (inhalations) of the voice organ
- dockside ingots
- hoarse
- acute and chronic laryngitis
- internal and external injuries to the larynx
- Organic changes in the vocal folds (vocal fold polyps, vocal nodules, hemorrhagic strokes
- to the vocal folds, Reinke’s edema, cysts, hypertrophic lesions)
- congenital and acquired defects of the larynx
- Pre-cancerous conditions (leukoplakia, pachydermia, hyperkeratosis, keratotic papillomas, polyps with a wide base)
- malignant tumors of the larynx
- Cancers of the larynx, neck area, throat and nose
- hearing loss
- deafness
- tinnitus
- auditory trumpet dysfunctions
- voicelessness (aphonia)
- Occupational voice diseases (including singing nodules, secondary hypertrophic lesions of the vocal folds, muscle paresis with phonatory insufficiency)
- functional voice disorders
- Hormonally induced voice and speech disorders
- voice disorders of developmental age
- occupational voice disorders
- singing voice disorders
- Voice disorders in neuropsychiatric diseases
- paralysis and paresis of the vocal folds
- delayed speech development
- central speech disorder
- speech defects
- articulation disorders
The audiologist is also involved in diagnosis and initial treatment:
- dyslexia
- stuttering
- autism, mutism, logophobia
An audiologist-phoniatrist should be consulted in the case of:
- chronic hoarseness
- the presence of tinnitus
- feelings of plugged ears
- hearing impairments
- prolonged irritation of the throat or larynx
- voice fading
- swallowing disorders
- changes on the tongue
- earache
People who frequently suffer from ear diseases (e.g., otitis), as well as those who suffer from voice disorders due to the nature of their work (e.g., teachers, singers, actors, announcers, speakers) should also go to an audiologist-phoniatrist for consultation.
Audiologist-phoniatrist also treats patients with hearing loss or partial deafness, which can lead to abnormal speech development, people who stutter.
A separate group of patients of the audiologist-phoniatrist are people after surgery or strokes, who need to undergo rehabilitation in order to learn to speak again.
Hearing organ diagnostics:
- tonal, impedance and verbal audiometry
- free-field listening tests
- otoacoustic emissions
- hearing screening for newborns
- brainstem evoked potentials (ABRs, including nocturnal ABRs performed at the Center or at the patient’s home)
- diagnosis of tinnitus
- videotoscopy
- computed tomography
- MRI
Diagnostics of the speech organ:
- videostroboscopy
- videolaryngoscopy