Clinic - Week 9

Today a male came for his hearing aid orientation. He was receiving a Unitron BiCross Amplification system with a WiFi Mic and a Unison 6 behind-the-ear hearing aid.

Background Information: The client had severe dizziness and vertigo about five years ago. His symptoms got so bad that he was afraid to drive. He was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease and had surgery on his left ear in which his 8th nerve was severed. His symptoms have almost entirely disappeared. He is a hunter and also has some hearing loss is in right ear. He was seen in our clinic in February 2008 in which amplification was discussed. He had researched on his own and knew what type of system he wanted.

Hearing Aid Orientation: A Unitron BiCross Amplification system with Wifi Mic and a Unison 6 BTE hearing aid was programmed in NOAH. He was instructed on the use and care of his hearing aid. He was also shown how to change the battery and clean out the microphones if they get blocked. A DryAid kit to store his hearing aids in overnight to help prevent moisture problems. The warranty and 30 day trial period was explained to him and he was encouraged to return before the 30 day trial period ended if he wanted to exchange or return the hearing aids. Three programs were made. Program 1 was set for normal everyday conversation (Quiet/Match Target), Program 2 was used for noisy situations (Group/Party Noise), and Program 3 was set for telephone use (Acoustic Telephone).

He was encouraged to wear his new hearing aids in all different situations. He was encouraged to return at any time if he noticed any problems or felt that his hearing aid needed further adjustment.

This article assesed 91 people with severe to profound asymmetrical hearing loss to assess their satisfaction using CROS or BiCROS. There were 43 men and 48 men. There age ranged from 41 to 89. At the end of 30 day trial period 66 patients elected to keep their hearing aids and 25 people returned them. Acceptance were high for both the CROS and the BiCROS. SOme reasons that people returned their hearing aid was that it was not better than their previous hearing aid, the device was too complicated, it was too expensive, use of device was hindered by otorrhea or otalgia, and the cord was bothersome.

Check it out!!!
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=3&hid=109&sid=580dcd59-3911-4528-a598-a28f1bae81dc%40sessionmgr109

Clinic - Week 8

I was sick this week and was not in clinic.

Clinic - Week 7

This week in clinic I didn't see anything too exciting so I decided to look up an article on cochlear implants. This title of this article is From hearing screening to cochlear implantation: cochlear implants in children under 3 years of age and it was published in 2008.

As we all know, the importance of newborn hearing screening can not only detect those who need further testing but also expedite the process of amplification and if necessary, cochlear implant evaluation. This article took 2 groups; the first group was diagnosed by screening and the second group was diagnosed by traditional methods. The following was assessed: age at the time of diagnosis, age at the time of the first hearing aid fitting, and age at the time of cochlear implantation.

The results clearly showed that the children from group one (newborn hearing screening group)
had a significantly younger age of the time of diagnosis (6.9 months vs 15.4 months), age at the time of the first hearing aid fitting (9.3 months vs 17 months) and age at the time of cochlear implantation (26 months vs 32 months).

Not only will newborn hearing screening reduce the time before followup and intervention but it will also help eliminated differences in communication, and speech and language. I thought this was a great study but only a small number of patients were sampled. Only 9 in group 1 and only 21 in group 2.

Hope you like it, check it out!
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=101&sid=8fc70c53-7a00-4dea-9dec-992aa98698e2%40sessionmgr109