May is Better Speech and Language Month, and it’s designed to raise awareness about disorders that can affect a person’s language skills, speech, voice, or hearing. Also known as Better Hearing and Speech Month, this event provides people with the perfect opportunity to think about their own hearing and to get it checked.

According to experts, identifying and getting early treatment for hearing loss is extremely important and may help prevent the hearing loss from becoming too severe. In our opinion, this month is also a good time to learn sign language or to learn more about one’s own speech.

The History of Better Speech and Language Month

This month was originally created during the 1920s by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). They created this annual event to raise awareness about hearing and speech problems and to encourage people to consider their own hearing health. This month has been faithfully observed ever since.

Facts About Speech and Language

Speech, language, and hearing are elements that all go together, so we decided to do some research on these three areas. What we discovered opened our eyes to many of the challenges that people face on a day-to-day basis. That’s why we feel compelled to list these facts below in a bulleted form for everyone’s convenience.

• It’s been estimated that as many as 10% of Americans have communication disorders.
• Approximately 5% of children have noticeable speech disorders by the time they enter first grade.
• Only about 10% of the population speaks in what is clinically a “normal” way. Most people have some sort of speech defect.
• People with Rhotacism produce the /r/ sound as a vowel-like sound. For example, the /r/ is often produced as a “w.”
• Over 3 million Americans stutter.
• Over 1 million Americans suffer from aphasia, which can cause speech defects.
• Almost 38 million Americans report having trouble hearing.
• Approximately 20% of Americans have hearing loss in at least one ear.
• The CDC estimates that the lifetime costs for all people with hearing loss born in 2001 are over $2.1 billion.

Observing Better Speech and Language Month

This month can be observed first and foremost by people making a trip to their doctors and having their hearing checked, even if they don’t think they have a problem with their hearing.

Hearing tests can often detect problems before the person is even aware that there’s an issue. And as we all know, early detection and intervention are important for achieving good results.

This is also a good month to learn more about speech, language, and sign language. We also encourage people to give a shout-out to professionals who work as speech therapists, audiologists, or speech-language pathologists. This can be done by using the hashtag #BetterSpeechAndLanguageMonth on social media.