Environmental design--an expanding role in hearing rehabilitation for older adults.

The role of the audiologist in aural rehabilitation services on behalf of older adults with hearing impairment is expanding, just as our knowledge of hearing in aging likewise expands [1]. In the pa st, audiologists generally found that they could not do as much as they desired to assist their older patients in acoustic design modifications to alleviate or prevent environmental interference in communi cation. This was, in part , probably a result of a lack of academic preparation in th e area of environmen tal design. Training in that area has, in most instances, not been generally available in the majority of preparatory programs. This lack of information has restricted audiol ogy students from learning about an im portant service that can improve the communicative efficiency of many older adults with impaired hearing function. Rather than letting colleagues continue to rely on a “seat of the pants” approach to environmental design, this editorial will introduce the concepts and principles of environmental desi gn that take into account aspects of hearing impairment in older adults, including design concepts and the physiological bases for those design considerations.