Dietitians are well trained in providing medical nutrition therapy for persons with chronic disease. However, many dietitians have little training in working with persons who have sensory disorders, including hearing, vision, speech, and language impairments, that affect their ability to communicate. This is especially troublesome for dietitians who work with older adults, because approximately 30% of all older adults and 80% to 90% of elderly persons in long-term-care facilities have hearing disorders ( (1) Berg R.L. Cassells J.S. The Second Fifty Years. National Academy Press, Washington, DC1990 Google Scholar , (2) Hull R.H. Hearing in Aging. Singular Publishing Group, San Diego, Calif1995 Google Scholar ). Furthermore 10% to 15% of noninstitutionalized older adults experience some form of visual impairment ( (1) Berg R.L. Cassells J.S. The Second Fifty Years. National Academy Press, Washington, DC1990 Google Scholar , (3) Branch L.G. Horwitz A. Carr C. The implications for everyday life of incident self-reported visual decline among people over age 65 living in the community. Gerontologisl. 1989; 369–365 Google Scholar ); among nursing home residents the percentage quadruples ( (3) Branch L.G. Horwitz A. Carr C. The implications for everyday life of incident self-reported visual decline among people over age 65 living in the community. Gerontologisl. 1989; 369–365 Google Scholar ). Although still a concern, speech and language communication disorders are considerably more rare than those affecting hearing or vision ( (4) Enderby P. Davies P. Communication disorders planning a service to meet the needs. Br JDisord Commun. 1989; 24: 303-331 Google Scholar ).