June 28, 2007

Today in clinic I saw a couple children for screenings and I fit a young man for earplugs. The man was a drummer and is very conscious of his hearing. He currently uses hearing protection, but wanted custom earplugs. Otoscopy was performed and it was noted he had very curvy canals that turned slightly upward. His ears had a very small amount of cerumen. The molds turned out very nicely, which I was really excited about because he was the first person I had made molds for...other than the girls in class.
Since he was a musician, I wanted to look into what the music community is doing about hearing protection and prevention. There are earplugs specific for musicians, but they are very expensive. I found a really interesting article in the ASHA Leader called It's Still Rock and Roll. The article discussed a concert in which the band had attendees wear miniature radio receivers to hear the unamplified music. The concert was billed to be the quietest yet, the first half of the concert was played at 62 dB. The second half of the concert was played with amplified speakers, being measured at 124 dB. The concert was part of a campaign for hearing loss education.
Reference:
Shafer, D. N. (2005). It's still rock and roll. The ASHA Leader, pp. 4, 13.

In another article, I read that 30-50% of the damage to hearing occurs before any hearing loss is noticed. I think this is a really important point because many of our clients say they wear their hearing protection like they should, but they may not realize when they don't the effects may not show up immediately.
Reference:
Daniel, E. (2007). Noise and hearing loss: A review. Journal of School Health. 77 (5), 225.

June 22, 2007

This week in clinic I saw mostly kindergarten re-screening clients. I did see my first adult client this week. The man came in for his annual hearing evaluation through the Hearing Conservation Program. He was quite possibly the best first client I could have asked for.
We discussed his case history form and he told me he had bilateral PE tubes as a child and had some scar tissue as a result. Otoscopy confirmed that statement. Due to the scar tissue he had bilateral type Ad tymps. His SRTs were in agreement with his PTAs and his Speech Discrimination was 100% bilaterally. He had a mild hearing loss in the high frequencies, but other than that, his hearing was within normal limits.
The hearing conservation program is great. I found a position statement from ASHA about The Audiologist's Role in Occupational Hearing Conservation and Hearing Loss Prevention Programs, which I thought was interesting. The position statement outlined some of the important areas an audiologist should be knowledgeable in if they are working with hearing conservation programs. Some of those areas include the effect of noise on hearing, exposure to loud noises for no longer than 8 hours consecutively as stated by OSHA, as well as Workers' Compensation regulation and trends.
Reference:
American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2004). The Audiologist's ROle in Occupational Hearing Conservation and Hearing Loss Prevention Programs [Position Statement]. Available from www.asha.org/policy.

June 14, 2007

This week in clinic I observed mostly. While I did not perform the hearing evaluation for this client, he definitely made an impression on me. We had a man come to the clinic who was definitely in need of a hearing aid. He was unable to understand loud conversational speech. The clinician had to help him fill out the case history form because he was unable to read or write. He was interested in purchasing a hearing aid though and brought the forms for the Starkey Hear Now program. After the completion of the hearing evaluation, it was determined he did have a hearing loss and he had 88% discrimination in one ear and 74% in the other. All of the clinicians in the clinic were very concerned about this man, so we decided to look into other options for purchasing hearing aids.
From ASHA, I found an article in the Audiology Information Series on Funding Resources for Audiology Services and Hearing Aids. The article discusses various federal and state resources. They also discussed some of the private resources for children and adults. The Hear Now program was one of the private resources listed, as well as the Easter Seals and the Travelers Protective Association Scholarship for the Deaf and Near-Deaf. I found this information very interesting. I also learned from an audiologist in the area that the Lion's Club sometimes sponsors individuals who need hearing aids. Hopefully after researching some of the organizations, we will be able to help this man purchase the hearing aids he needs.
If you are interested in this article please check out: http://www.asha.org/NR/rdonlyres/6440B0E8-8441-481B-BB9C-0D4E5ADC038F/0/InfoSeriesFundingResources.pdf.