The Institute for Speech and Hearing Disorders was founded by Mrs. Lily Tell in 1956.
Evaluation and treatment for hearing, speech and swallowing disorders are available for people of all ages.
The staff includes 18 experienced and up to date audiologists and speech pathologists, most with a Master degree, who are also involved in teaching and research.
The Institute is equipped with modern instrumentation, which enables testing at the latest state-of-the-art technological level.
A branch of the institute, the League for the Hard of Hearing, is located at “Beit Habriut Strauss”, providing consultation and hearing aid fitting.
The following tests and treatments
are performed at the Institute:
1. Conventional hearing tests for all ages, newborns to geriatrics.
2. Special tests (behavioral and objective) for locating pathologies along the auditory pathways:
§ Impedance tests of the middle ear (tympanometry and acoustic reflexes)
§ Otoacoustic emissions, which reflect outer hair cell function in the inner ear.
§ ABR = Auditory Nerve and Brainstem Evoked Response, which is useful in both audiological and neurological diagnosis.
§ Central auditory tests, which are helpful in testing children with learning disabilities, attention disorders, and difficulty in reading and writing. These tests can also be used for adults with normal peripheral hearing who complain of significant difficulty in speech perception.
3. Hearing
Screening Program for Newborns. All newborns are screened for hearing loss after birth, before discharge from the hospital. Those who don’t pass screening are followed up at the age of a month, and further as necessary. Early identification of hearing loss is important in order to start habilitation programs as soon as possible, for the best possible speech and language development.
4. Hearing Habilitation
§ Hearing aid counseling and fitting for all ages, together with coordination with the different educational frameworks. The clinic runs a special project for purchase of second hand hearing aids at a low price.
§ Counseling before cochlear implant surgery, for those hard of hearing or deaf patients who don’t benefit sufficiently from hearing aids.
§ Habilitation after the cochlear implant operation: tuning of the implant, therapy and counseling.
The League for the Hard of Hearing, situated at Beit Habriut Strauss, is affiliated with the center.
Consultation and hearing aid fitting are available there for the adult population.
How to get in touch?
Referrals to the clinic are mainly through doctors (predominantly ENT specialists, pediatricians, family practitioners, neurologists). Some referrals are from the Well Baby clinics (Tipat Halav), kindergardens, schools, orthodontists, psychologists, social workers, parents and self referrals.
The clinic is open Sun – Thur 08:00-16:00.
Tel: 02-6777356, 02-6778656.
E-mail: hlevi@hadassah.org.il