Download Summer 2015 - McNeill Audiology

Eighteenth Edition
Summer 2015
History of Audiology
A
by Edward Storzer, M.Sc., Aud (C) Registered Audiologist
question often asked of us is, “How did you get into Audiology?” Many
people do not know about the profession of Audiology until they require
the services of one. Indeed, even students that are considering fields of
study and career choices do not learn about Audiology until they come across
it during their undergraduate program, most often through studies in Linguistics or Psychology. At McNeill Audiology we have enjoyed the opportunity to
teach prospective Audiology students more about our profession through our
relationship with the UVic linguistics department, who have sent students to
our offices for many years. We are also committed as clinical educators, taking
on Audiology Masters students from UBC at least once a year for 6 to 7 weeks.
The audiologists at McNeill Audiology all feel privileged to have found a career
that balances the fascinating science of hearing, the ever changing technology of
hearing aids and other devices, and the extremely rewarding opportunity to work
closely with our clients as problem solvers to improve communication. Recently,
a client asked me about the history of our profession of Audiology, and I thought
that would be worth exploring in this edition of our newsletter.
The term “Audiology” was not used until the 1940s in the Journal of Speech Disorders, but the roots of the profession originate from the 1920s, when the technology was in place to devise the first audiometers, which are used to measure
hearing loss. This invention paved the way for new hearing loss research and
innovations in treatment.
Interest in Audiology surged in the 1940s, especially as WWII soldiers returned
with noise-induced hearing loss related to exposure to gunfire and explosions
or other prolonged exposure to a variety of engines and machinery. Treating
veterans with hearing loss led to many advances in hearing testing, rehabilitation
through hearing aids, auditory training, and speech reading programs.
In the 1950s and 60s, Audiology programs emerged, often in association with
Speech Science programs. Audiologists started to test in medical settings such as
Otolaryngologist clinics. New tests of hearing started to be developed, including
evaluations of functions of the outer ear, middle ear, cochlea, acoustic nerve, and
brain areas.
In the 1970s and 80s, subspecialty areas of audiology started to emerge, such
as pediatric, educational, and industrial. The use of physiological measures to
Continued on page 2 . . .
For Hearing Solutions
McNeill Audiology
1463 Hampshire Road
Victoria,BC V8S 4T5
Tel: 370-2833
5 - 9843 Second Street
Sidney, BC V8L 3C7
Tel: 656-2218
E-mail
[email protected]
Website
www.mcneillaudiology.ca
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History of Audiology continued
evaluate hearing loss became more
widespread. As an example, physiological tests that can measure hearing function in infants have allowed
for testing, diagnosing, and treating
hearing loss in children within weeks
of birth.
In recent decades, audiologists have
started to specialize in new areas
such as balance function, auditory
processing disorders, and cochlear
implantation. Technological advances, digitization and miniaturization
of electronics have had a dramatic
impact on hearing aids. They have
become far more sophisticated and
proficient with a greater range of
hearing loss types. The limitations of
early hearing aids, such as low fidelity, low power, large size, and high
battery drain have been eliminated or
vastly improved upon.
Over the last 20 years, private
practice has been the fastest growing
employment sector for Audiology,
however the profession also maintains a visible presence in schools,
health care centers, hospitals, universities, the military, and a variety of
community agencies. Audiologists
continue to provide services that
include testing hearing and listening ability, fitting hearing aids and
assistive listening devices, providing
training and rehabilitation programs
for people with hearing and listening
disorders, and participating with educational and health care teams to plan
and provide appropriate services. q
Unitron Goes “North”
by Kristina Plewes, M.Sc., Aud (C) Registered Audiologist
U
nitron, one of the leading
manufacturers of hearing
aids, has recently launched
it’s newest hearing aid technology
called the “North” platform. With this
new platform, Unitron has decided
to focus on seven different listening
environments.
Of the seven different listening
programs, three programs have to do
with the way the hearing aid responds
to environmental sound and four
other programs have to do with how
the hearing aids operate in different
conversation environments.
The three environmental programs
operate when no speech is present
and will detect if you are in a noisy
vs a quiet environment and adjusts
for comfort but still keeps sounds
audible. When listening to music the
hearing aid will enhance the sound
using a special music program for a
more natural quality of sound rather
than treating music as ‘noise’ or
something it
needs to get rid
of.
For the
‘conversation’
programs,
the hearing
aids attempt
to classify the type of conversation
environments you are in:
sConversation in quiet,
sConversation in a small group,
Introducing Tara
T
ara is pleased to be the newest addition
to our team in Sidney. She has lived and
worked in this area for many years.
Tara looks forward to providing the best service
for clients and assisting you with your hearing
needs. q
sConversation in a crowd or
sConversation in noise.
So whether you are having a one-onone conversation in quiet or on the
street with traffic noise the hearing
aid will accommodate as best it can
to bring conversation to the forefront.
All of these programs operate
automatically, meaning the hearing
aids will detect which environment
you are in and adjust themselves
accordingly without any physical
adjustments made by the hearing
aid wearer. This automatic feature
is perfect for those who want to put
their hearing aids on and not have to
think about them for the rest of the
day.
Another new feature in the
programming software is called “Log
It All” which tracks the different
listening situations you encounter
over a period of time and logs this
information to your hearing aid. At
your follow up visit
this information
can be reviewed to
see if that level of
technology is the best
to suit all of your
listening needs.
The hearing aids come in three
stylish forms called the Moxi Kiss
(which won a design award in 2014
for style), the Moxi Fit (with T-coil
and push button) and the Moxi Dura
(a robust hearing aid with bigger
battery) as well as in a variety of
different colours. Accessories such
as remote controls, and wireless
Bluetooth devices for improved
clarity with the television, cell phone
and personal microphones are also
available with this new hearing aid
platform.
Not all features are found in all levels
of technology. Please contact your
audiologist for further information on
Unitron’s newest hearing aid product
line. q
McNeill Audiology Celebrates
20 Years of Better Hearing!
O
by Katie MacDonald, M.Sc., Aud (C) Registered Audiologist
n Thursday April 23,
2015 McNeill Audiology
celebrated ‘20 Years of
Better Hearing’ at the Greek Community Centre on Elk Lake Rd.
There was lots of wonderful food,
fun, flamenco music, a visit from
a Queen impersonator, displays
from hearing aid manufacturers
and informative talks. The Greek
Community Centre prepared a
delicious spread of Greek appetizers. The manufacturers’ representatives provided informative talks
on a variety of topics and show
cased their latest hearing aids.
Island Deaf and Hard of Hearing provided a display and a talk
about the service they provide in
our community plus supplying the
closed captioning and signing at
the event.
and the Peninsula over the past
20 years and we look forward to
many years to come.q
Brent & Tricia McNeill
doing the honours with the cake
in the building. Ted from ALDs
came to the rescue by suiting Dr.
Art up with the ‘voice buddy’ that
allowed his voice to be amplified throughout the room. The
Greek Community Centre quickly
obtained a generator and we were
able to hook up the sound system
and power point presentation for
the last half of Dr. Art’s talk.
We have a lot to celebrate! We
have been in business for 20
years in an extremely competitive
hearing aid market. We owe a
lot of our success
to our loyal clients
as word of mouth
A car acis our number one
cident on
referral source. We
the Pat Bay
celebrate being
Highway
an independently
knocked
owned and operated
over a
audiology clinic,
power pole
which means we
and caused
support a variety
the comof different hearing
munity
aid manufacturers
centre to
Dr. Art Hister, in full flight,
and
employ Registered
making the best of the situation
lose power
with no power -- “too bad you can’t Audiologists. Plus, it
midway
see my slide on this one”.
has been an honour and
through our
a privilege serving the
event but luckily it was a sunny
communities
of Oak Bay, Victoria
day and we had lots of technology
Sandra Bergink, event volunteer and
former office assistant encouraged guests to
write their favourite sound or thoughts for
McNeill Audiology onto a ‘leaf ’ and then
tie them onto our Sound and Thought Tree.
Our guest speaker, Dr. Art Hister,
was particularly delightful and entertaining with his topic-- How to
Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier
Life.
Dr. Art came in time
to have some fun and
a cup of coffee before his talk.
Tricia greeting our special guest.
Assistive Listening Devices display table -one of the technology displays
The “Queen” (impersonator Carolyn Sadowska) and her corgie needed their ears
checked, so Katie (above) and Kristina
(left) were delighted to comply! She stayed
in character the entire visit.
Seeking Sound Advice
Is it true there’s only silence, in the absence of an ear,
(When a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear)?
It’s really things more personal that bothers guys like me,
As I ponder the complexities of audiology:
When I’ve primed myself for slumber, and my hearing aid’s been shed,
and it’s sitting in its egg cup, on the shelf beside my bed,
And I didn’t take the battery out, or flick the switch to “Off’,
And I’m drifting into dreamland, and I give a little cough,
Or heave a semiconscious sigh, or mumble to myself,
IS THE LITTLE RASCAL LISTENING IN IT’S EGG CUP ON THE SHELF??
by Brian Orr, reproduced with permission
The McNeill Audiology team:
Back row, Edward Storzer, Tara Rathwell
Middle row: Elaine Legatt, Kristina Plewes,
Amanda Windle, Katie MacDonald.
Seated: Brent and Tricia McNeill
Missing: Marilyn Cook