Speech disorder may manifest itself in various forms - delayed speech during childhood, stammering, speech disorders due to injuries or congenital defects like cerebral palsy, cleft palate and so on. Many a time, speech disorders are accompanied by hearing disorders and vice versa. These may be either physiological or even psychological. A person trained in this field would be able to assess hearing defects and give the required therapy. A speech therapist would be able to use his skills to help people communicate. Some of the tools of his trade would be to teach sign language to a person who is totally incapable of speech, to improve diction and articulation of those who stammer and to teach those hard of hearing how to lip-read. Learning these skills would enable better communication and thus improve the quality of life for the challenged individuals. 

The study of speech and hearing disorders is called Audiology. This is the branch of science that deals with human speech and hearing imbalances. The person who studies this rare subject is called Audiologist. An Audiologist can fix the causes of speech and hearing disorders in a person. He / she employ different techniques i.e. hearing tests, otoacoustic emission measurements, videonystagmography, and electrophysiologic tests etc to establish whether an individual is hearing impaired or not. Because of growing number of speech and hearing impaired individuals both children and adult, the demand for expert audiologist is on the rise and Audiology is recognized as a profession.

The Audiology and Speech Pathology in India was started as a profession by a group of enthusiastic professionals like Dr. N Rathna, Dr. S Nikam, Mr. Ramesh Oza and Dr. Vijay Shah. The first Audiology & Speech Language Therapy program was started in 1966 at T.N.Medical College and BYL Nair Ch. Hospital in Mumbai. In the same year, the Government of India established All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (www.aiishmysore.com) which became the country's leading Institute in the field of communication disorders.

Now, there are currently 20 Universities (8 Governmental and 14 private) institute in India which provide Speech Pathology and Audiology programs. These programs are accredited by Rehabilitation council of India (RCI). Majority of these institutes provide excellent multidisciplinary clinical setup for persons with communication disorders.