Hearing or Listening Test?

The people that I saw coming in for hearing tests were usually referred by the doctor, and some because they're concerned with the hearing status while some came in because it was part of the medical check-up. It can be very amusing on the replies that I get.

I would ask, "Have you done a hearing test before?"

Most of them would say, "No, it's my first time." Following that, some would say smugly, "My hearing's fine, I'm just doing it because it's part of the package (medical check-up)". Tsk tsk, lack of awareness, if I may say.

Some would say they did a hearing test before. "Yeah, the doctor was using this metal thing and hit me on the head." Tuning fork test, of course. This is the cue where I go smug, "My hearing test is better.", hehe :P

The reply that always got me laughing inside (well, I couldn't laugh out to my patient, that's mean) - "Oh yeah, I've done it before. It was during my schooldays. It was an English listening test. I did okay on that." Would you believe it, I saw to several people who actually said that. Of course, I explained to them it's a totally different thing with hearing test.

So, what's the difference with hearing and listening? I guess with Malay word, it's just "mendengar" and "pendengaran". So in that context, it'll be the same for hearing and listening. But if we really define it, hearing would be the simple act of detecting sounds, whereas listening is a more complicated act of detecting and understanding the sound.

Anyways, in the end, it's always a nice feeling to test a first-timer, because then you know you're increasing the awareness of importance of preserving your hearing and of course detection and management of hearing impairment :)

"Is This Halal?"

"Nadirah, is this ear plugs halal?"

I was taken aback when my patient asked me that. But I quickly thought over and said "I'm not sure but it should be, because it's made of silicone".

The patient was still skeptical, so I reassured her and said that there would not be any haram content inside the ear plugs, and she accepted that.

Honestly, I was taken aback because that was the first time a patient ever asked me that. All this while, I've been assuming that everything that I do is halal, never once questioning the material used. And that's a problem actually, especially with food these days. There are so many eateries, F&B outlets that is cheating consumers outright by putting up phony halal logos on their walls. And we Muslim Malaysians assume that every restaurants/cafes in this country is halal, except for those with obvious "bak kut teh" in the name of their shop. Nowadays, I seriously admit I can't be too sure with what I eat :(

Back to Audiology. So I talked this over with a colleague, and she made me think of the teachings of Islam itself. It was discussed that in Islam, as long as we don't consume pork and alcohol, then it is still halal. Meaning you can wear a pig skin lining shoes for all the care in the world. I was really skeptical of this, because this is also the first time I'm hearing it. So any wise ones, please do respond to this post if you beg to differ, or acknowledge this teaching.

Of course I googled for silicone, and rest assured everyone, there's nothing that says haram from what I read. Alhamdulillah.

Another first would be selling the ear plugs itself. The patient requested for them because she has perforated eardrums in both ears. Since she's not keen for surgery, the ENT Specialist advised her to make sure that her ears are dry all the time to allow the eardrums to heal on its own.

When I received the ear plugs from the vendor, they were really cute! One was in bright pink, while the other was in blue. It's something like the ones in this photo:


(pic taken from http://www.allamericanmold.com/html/swim_wear.html)

The patient also feedbacked that it was comfortable as well, no issues with it at all.

I also discovered that besides for protection from water and noise, you can use ear plugs to protect from snoring! LOL. I guess there are a lot of bed partner snoring at really high decibels or the company wouldn't have come up with that.

Cool stuff :)

Audiologist Gives Back to Family

How does an audiologist gives back to family?

By doing a hearing test on them.

Have I ever? Nope.

Well, I did test my parents... when they were subjects for my thesis! Hrmm... I'm sounding like I manipulated them. But anyhow, their hearing levels were within normal limits, which is awesome! I honestly think that both my parents have good genetic for hearing, hehe. Reason being, for every of their siblings that I tested, all of them qualified to be my subjects! Bravo to Abdul Rahims/Ibrahims family :)

(Suddenly I remembered a joke by my friend. He works with Widex. A friend of ours were saying something that she did well with a patient, and he commented saying "Bravo from Widex". I thought he was saying that, as in representing Widex. Apparently, he meant that it must be due to Bravo Widex that helped the patient. LOL!)

Besides my parents and my uncles and aunties, I also tested my niece. She complained of tinnitus when she was 7! And at that time, I was still unexperienced to deal with tinnitus cases... especially with pediatrics! That was and still is the first time I hear of that case actually. But now she's okay, she said she's just hearing it occasionally now. Last time she used to hear it all the time. I guess she's grown used to it. Don't worry peeps, I'm monitoring her!

Of course, I tested my hubby as well. He too has tinnitus! But I think it's most likely because of his sinus, and not the hearing, because the hearing is fine. He's now under follow up with the ENT Specialist.

Nobody else apart from the people above. And I have 11 siblings! None of which I tested. Plus 2 sister-in-laws, 2 nephews, 1 other niece, and now in addition to that - parents-in-laws, 2 brother-in-laws, 3 sister-in-laws and 1 nephew. Whoa. That's 25 people to test! And of course, I'll still need to check my parents' hearing again for monitoring purpose, since they're well over 40!

I suddenly felt guilty the other day when I was advocating for hearing tests from newborn itself, when I don't even do that to my own family. So I actually plan to start with the babies. I'm gonna make an appointment and make sure they come!

Let's hope I won't have to deliver any bad news to them!

Of Concerts and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

How many concerts can you go before the NIHL starts kicking in?

Hrmmm, let's go through concerts (big scale, GangStarz doesn't count haha) I've been to:

1. Incubus
2. Hoobastank
3. Good Charlotte
4. Gwen Stefani
5. My Chemical Romance
6. Jason Mraz
7. Usher
8. Adam Lambert
9. Paramore (this was the most awesome so far)

So. The concerts were between 2004 to 2010. Of course, we'd need to consider distance, which was either at the mosh pit or the seats up above (cheap tix, what to do). Is my hearing deteriorating? Any notch at 4000Hz? I actually had temporary threshold shift during Adam Lambert's. That concert was crazy!

Just realized I haven't done any hearing test for myself this year. Will do it soon. How about you frequent-concert-goers out there?