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Audiology: Who do you think we are?
“Taking impressions of a baby’s ears when they are crying and
wriggling!”
Name: Sarah Aston
Job Title: Newborn Hearing Screening Co-ordinator and Senior
Audiologist
What is an audiologist?
An audiologist is a health-care professional specialising in identifying,
diagnosing, treating and monitoring hearing and balance disorders.
1. Who am I?
Hi everyone I will just start by telling you how I got started in Audiology.
Audiology is not a profession that would immediately jump to mind when
choosing a career but I had a family member with hearing loss and this got
me interested to begin with. I contacted the local Audiology Department and
asked if I could do some work experience. Since then I have worked in
various hospitals in the North West area of England and then an opportunity
came up for an Audiologist job in the Highlands.
I initially started in an Audiologist capacity but then an opportunity came up for
the Newborn Hearing Screening Co-ordinator post which I successfully
obtained. I now have a dual role in the department performing co-ordinator
duties and also fulfilling my role as an Audiologist.
2. What do I do? Describe your role?
As the Newborn Hearing Screening Co-ordinator I have to make sure that all
babies born within NHS Highland are offered hearing screening. Babies are
screened at birth and we have to test within 4 weeks. However some babies
may move into the area and we can offer screening up to 26 weeks of age. To
ensure this happens I have a team of screeners, maternity assistants,
midwives and also a Nursery Nurse performing the testing within the
Highlands. They are situated in Caithness, Inverness, Fort William and Skye.
The screeners perform a test called an Otoacoustic emission (OAE). The test
sends a clicking sound into the ear which the cochlear picks up. The cochlear
then sends an echo back to the machine. If there are enough signals picked
up by the ear and echo sent back then the baby passes, if they don’t they
refer. The OAE is performed twice if they refer a second time then another
test is performed called an Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR).
This entails attaching three electrodes to the baby and putting little ear muffs
over the babies ears and putting clicks through the headphones the signal is
then picked up at the brainstem.
We have contact with other professions such as Health Visitors if we have
non-attenders or home births and with other Hospitals if a baby has been born
elsewhere but is a Highland resident. The non-attenders can be babies who
have had the first test in Hospital and then gone home before the second test
can be performed and then do not attend there appointment. If a baby is born
elsewhere and may have a hearing problem then there is a network of
screening managers and Audiologist across Scotland who will inform you if
they have moved into your area.
3. Why is this role important?
The role that I play ensures that any baby born with a moderate to profound
hearing loss is detected. People often do not understand the impact this can
have on the child and the whole family. Many babies who are born with
hearing loss do not have any history of hearing loss in the family.
In my Audiologist capacity I continue the diagnostic testing of these babies
and fit them with hearing aids if necessary. There are only 1-2 babies born per
thousand births with a significant hearing loss but we also pick up milder
hearing losses. As we are picking up children earlier my role as an Audiologist
has also changed. The earlier we detect a hearing loss in a child can make a
difference to the speech and language and communication aspect of a child’s
development. It does still tend to be slower than children of the same age but I
have seen first hand the difference giving a child a hearing aid earlier makes.
4.
Most challenging part of my job?
Taking impressions of a baby’s ears when they are crying and wriggling!
Trying to get a baby to sleep who has just travelled 2 and half hours to get
here!
Trying to track down babies who have been born in Highland but then moved
out of the area.
5. Most interesting part of my job?
Meeting all the babies and parents within my Audiologist capacity. Helping the
families of babies who are diagnosed with hearing loss and seeing the child
achieve goals that they may have thought impossible.
6. What qualifications do I need?
Audiology training is undergoing change at present and information can be
found on the UK Audiology professions website. A Batchelor of Science in
Health Science will be required and then a supervised training route within an
Audiology Department.
Personal attributes I feel can play a big part in any role but depending on the
profession these can vary. In the role that I perform you need to be able to
communicate well, be able to maintain a rapport with parents, even in difficult
circumstances and most of all be a good listener.
7. Who do I get in touch with if I want to find out more?
The British Academy of Audiology is the lead professional organisation and
can signpost you to training, careers information and guidance.
www.baaudiology.org
Although it is an English website there is some interesting information on the
NHS Newborn Hearing Screening Programme
http://hearing.screening.nhs.uk/