Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation
Everything for optimal rehabilitation
The deterioration of your hearing - whether due to illness or age - always has a negative impact on your quality of life. Nowadays, innovative high-tech companies can provide you with technical hearing aids, so you don't have to resign yourself to your impairment.
Table of contents
Initial provision with technical aids
The degree of your hearing impairment will determine whether a conventional hearing aid is sufficient or whether cochlear implantation is ultimately required. This will be determined by the medical staff at the clinic of your choice using special procedures, after which all options will be weighed up with you.
Rehabilitation options
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Speech therapy and various other rehabilitation and therapy measures are recommended both before and after fitting with a hearing system.
Speech therapy
Any hearing impairment reduces the ability to communicate enormously. In addition to good and timely hearing care, people with hearing loss should therefore also take advantage of speech therapy, especially in the early stages, in order to get used to the new hearing or hearing again as quickly as possible.
The most important goal of speech therapy is to enable communication so that your quality of life no longer has to suffer as a result of hearing loss. Therapeutic work therefore includes: Acoustic training, hearing training and communication strategies.
In addition, the speech therapist is also an important pivotal point in communication with experts from other relevant specialist areas, especially in the initial phase.
Tip: Take someone with you to the first few appointments! A partner, friend or relative can be a great support, especially in the initial phase, and offer security in what may be an exciting situation for you.
Speech therapy with a focus on hearing loss is offered throughout Austria:
https://www.logopaedieaustria.at/
Further rehabilitation options
Taking into account any additional illness-related restrictions, there are a number of rehabilitation measures that you can take advantage of to achieve the best possible result with your hearing system.
Outpatient rehabilitation
There is a wide range of outpatient rehabilitation measures available throughout Austria. Depending on your taste and character, you can choose from the range on offer:
Group therapy:
Some of the rehabilitation programs in outpatient form take place in group therapies. For some people, contact with other sufferers is important, so this form of therapy may also be a pleasant symbiosis for you, combining rehabilitation with exchange.
Music therapy:
Music therapy is a creativity and expression-oriented therapy method that includes various forms and techniques. What they have in common is the targeted use of musical means in a therapeutic relationship to restore, maintain and promote mental, physical and spiritual health. It has been used for a long time, but has only been used for the rehabilitation of people with hearing implants for a few years.
Here are some institutions that offer music therapy:
MELUDIA - the music training program for MED-EL implant users
A cognitive-based online music training software with which musical beginners as well as people with previous knowledge can practice in a structured and guided way with a chance of success
Simply register here on myMEDEL and use it for free!
Training programs for at home
"It's important to practise at home."
Nicole Trimmel, speech therapist at ZENTRUM HÖREN
ReDi - the app for interactive hearing training
ReDi is aimed at all users of MED-EL hearing systems who want to improve their speech comprehension independently. Regardless of experience level, the app offers interactive hearing training for both beginners and advanced users.
Simply download it from the App Store and log in via myMED-EL!
Practicing at home, ideally with your partner or family, is extremely important for optimal success with your new hearing implant system. The implant expert MED-EL offers a range of rehabilitation materials that you can use in the comfort of your own home. Here you will find brochures and audio files that you can either download or have sent to you: Rehabilitation Downloads
Audiobooks
"As studies and experience have shown, people with pure audio books can improve their speech comprehension and hearing ability by reading along with the printed book!"
Alexander Guano, Audio Library of the Association for the Blind
Audiobooks can not only relieve boredom, they are also ideal as a supplement to hearing training. They are a good tool in the rehabilitation of CI and hearing aid users, as they awaken the joy of hearing and encourage them to practise independently.
If you want to use audiobooks for practice purposes, you should already be able to understand speech at sentence level. The voice quality of the recording is crucial and audiobooks with a slow speech tempo and few speaker changes should be chosen at the beginning of this exercise. The printed form is also very important so that you can always read along with what you have heard. It is therefore essential to choose a work that is available as an unabridged audio book. Later on, it is highly recommended to listen to the audiobook without reading along, but this also requires practice.
Publishers such as HörGut Verlag, Bertz & Fischer and Audible offer a wide range of good quality audiobooks.
Here you will find stores and websites that specialize in high-quality audiobooks:
Inpatient rehabilitation
In Austria, unfortunately, there are currently no options for inpatient rehabilitation following cochlear implantation. In Germany, the MEDIAN Kaiserberg-Klinik Bad Nauheim and the MEDICLIN Bosenberg-Klinik in St. Wendel offer inpatient rehabilitation. The costs for rehabilitation in Germany are partly covered by the Austrian social insurance. Please enquire about the assumption of costs directly with your social insurance provider.
You can find the application form for your inpatient rehabilitation here.
You can download these instructions, tips and exercise materials here!
*Most of the materials offered on this page are available in German.
Support through psychotherapy
"People need the contrast between sound and silence in order to stay mentally healthy. It's comparable to alternating between inhaling and exhaling."
Prof. Dr. Volker Faust, neurologist, University of Ulm
Even if the suffering caused by a hearing loss is limited by today's technical possibilities, the consequences of the disease progressing over the years may still be noticeable. Loneliness, psychosocial problems, insecurity, etc. are classic side effects and can lead to emotional upsets and even serious depression.
Seeking psychotherapy is no longer a stigma. On the contrary, empathetic and experienced discussion partners can be ideal companions on your path to hearing (again), especially in the initial phase. In Austria, several experts now offer therapy sessions who specialize in the topic of hearing impairment or have experience in dealing with it.
Contacts
Personal contact with those affected
The opportunity to make direct contact with other users is immeasurably important for those affected, especially at the beginning of this special journey. Here you will find personal contacts who have gladly made themselves available for our website as advisors and to share their experiences - because hearing connects!
Technical hearing care
Acoustician
There are a large number of hearing aid acousticians in Austria. Whether you choose one of the well-known chains or an individual company, it is important that you have confidence in the specialist staff there and feel that you are receiving the best possible advice.
Hearing implant manufacturer
The hearing implant manufacturer MED-EL is an Austrian family business with its headquarters in Innsbruck/Tyrol. In Vienna, there is a branch in the 9th district with the ZENTRUM HÖREN service center, which offers comprehensive advice and support to people with hearing impairments and hearing loss as well as users of hearing implant systems throughout Austria.
Rehabilitation/Therapy
Speech therapy
Whether contract, elective or private speech therapy - here you will find interesting facts about the profession as well as a search function for the speech therapist of your choice:
Outpatient rehabilitation
There are numerous possibilities for rehabilitation in outpatient form and in different directions:
- https://stpoelten.lknoe.at/
- https://www.lzh.at/
- https://www.musiktherapie.at/
- https://www.physioaustria.at/
Other forms of therapy
Audiobooks are a wonderful way to practise your new listening skills while enjoying literature.
Here you will find stores and websites that specialize in high-quality audiobooks:
Here can find an overview of the wide range of exercises offered by the hearing implant manufacturer MED-EL, which you can download or purchase directly from the ZENTRUM HÖREN webshop:
Psychotherapy
Here you will find a list of experts who are familiar with the topic of hearing impairment or who offer additional support through specific language skills for people with a migration background:
Vienna:
- praxismargreiter.at
- markus-braeuer.at
- psychotherapy-zaslawski.net
- psychology-behavior-therapy.com
- psychotherapy-blachowsky.at
Salzburg:
Tyrol:
Psychotherapy on a sickness certificate:
