Chronicles of a deaf Audiologist
Rehabilitation beyond hearing aids and cochlear implants: lipreading instruction, brain/auditory training and communication strategies.
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From the chronicles
Beethoven had lead poisoning, leading to hearing loss
Beethoven died from liver and kidney disease at age 56. He expressed a wish that his ailments be studied and shared so “as far as possible at least the world will be reconciled to me after my death.” Analysis of Beethoven’s hair suggests that he had lead poisoning, which may have contributed to ailments he […]
Noisy classrooms may affect the well-being of children
In 2019, a study looked at how noise affected the well-being of children in classrooms. Over three hundred first graders across 10 different schools were involved in the study. Room acoustics of the various classrooms were measured. Questionnaires were given to the students to determine their state of well-being and perceived disturbance by noise. Students […]
Attention educational audiologists and teachers: how-to videos for remote microphone technology now available!
I’ve created six how-to videos about remote microphone technology from an educational audiologist’s standpoint. To my surprise, I had fun while doing them. Pearce Socials, my social media manager, suggested ways to transition to different “scenes” in the videos and encouraged me to be myself. I hope they will be helpful to teachers this coming […]
Children are more susceptible to noise than adults!
Classrooms can be noisy! Classroom noise levels are expressed as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which compares the level of the signal (teacher’s voice) to the level of noise. A typical, noisy classroom will vary in SNR from + 5 to – 7 dB. Research showed that at 0 dB SNR, adults and older children, when compared […]
Did you hear? Silk can be used to reduce sound
The world is a noisy place. Unwanted noise is a problem in schools, in our homes, and in work spaces. An interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from MIT developed a sound-suppressing silk fabric that could be used to create quiet spaces. An open-access paper about the research appears in the Advanced Materials journal. Let’s say your next-door neighbours […]
Addressing cognitive dissonance is a huge part of an audiologist’s job! Part 1
Cognitive dissonance is a state of having conflicting feelings or beliefs. In an article called “The Psychological Dimensions of Hearing Healthcare: Audiology is More Than Just Diagnoses and Devices” in Canadian Audiologist, by Bill Hodgetts, PhD, (Vol 11, Issue 3, 2024), he said, “Resolving a patient’s cognitive dissonance is a huge part of our job.” […]
A personal remote microphone makes an impossible listening situation…possible!
The difference between listening through hearing aids only and listening through hearing aids plus a remote microphone is astounding. Here is a 44-second clip to demonstrate the difference in a noisy situation. Related post: Take the “Try” out of your hearing aid trial period
The difference between hearing and understanding
There is a difference between hearing and understanding. I can HEAR German. I can’t understand it. In the classroom, when a student appears to understand the teacher even without a remote microphone, it’s usually because there is a lot of context and the teacher has said something predictable (such as the word “Abacadabra!” in the […]
What does a live concert sound like with a cochlear implant?
A couple of months after upgrading my cochlear implant processor, I went to a concert. The guy beside me was very engaged and was yelling enthusiastically. On top of the loud music, the yelling put my cochlear implant processor into compression. The sound immediately dropped and slowly came back to full volume. The parameters […]
Are you waiting for a cochlear implant?
Are you waiting for a cochlear implant? Here’s something you can do while you wait. Read some books in print that you can later access as audiobooks (from the library, Audible, Kobo, etc.). After your CI activation, listen to the audiobooks, choosing the reader you find easiest to understand. Listen without re-reading the text, at […]