Accent Modification

The staff at Harmony Hearing & Speech Center is also able to offer a very valuable service known as Accent Reduction or Accent Modification.  Since our society has become so culturally diverse it is important that individuals possess adequate communication abilities.  There are many individuals living in the United States today who are non -native English speakers.  These individuals speak with “foreign” accents.  The accent is not considered disordered but, rather “different”.  Foreign accents can be difficult to understand and therefore interfere with communication between individuals. 

Our goal is to “minimize” an individual’s accent and “maximize” their potential.  In order to be successful socially or professionally an individual must be able to communicate effectively.  Therefore, Harmony provides Accent Modification training to a variety of people who would like to minimize their accent and improve their overall presentation skills both in expressive communication as well as in written communication.

Our clients include some of the following:

1. Individuals who are non-native speakers of English who would like to improve their skills in order to achieve career success.  Many individuals possess the educational credentials but lack the ability to use speech which is clear and easy to understand.  Consequently, these individuals may not be considered for a promotion which certainly limits their professional growth with regards to professional status and financial success.
2. Corporations who employ individuals who are non-native speakers of English and wish to improve their employee’s expressive skills, written skills and overall presentation skills.
3. Hospitals and other Medical Facilities who employ doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who speak with foreign accents.  It is essential for individuals working in the healthcare field to be able to be easily understood because lives depend on them.  For example, consider a patient in critical condition who needs immediate attention – what happens if a “code” is called and is misinterpreted because the “speaker” could not be understood because of his/her accent.  A life could be lost. 

Our Licensed Speech-Language Pathologists are trained to provide services to individuals who would like to improve their speech by reducing their accent.  Our Speech-Language Pathologists are Compton trained and certified in order to provide comprehensive and competent programs to individuals that are non-native English speakers from a variety of different countries.

Services are available individually and in small groups and may be obtained at our Center or directly at the employment setting. 

Please feel free to contact Harmony for more information about our Accent Modification services.

Harmony has two convenient locations with day, evening and weekend hours available:

Queens
161-24 84^th Street
Howard Beach, NY 11414
Tel (718) 641-3817

Nassau
432 Gardiners Avenue
Levittown, NY 11756
Tel (516) 731-5868