Never Take Hearing for Granted!

A blogreader recently shared this with me:

"A man reached 80 years of age and he had an infection in his ears which made him almost deaf. The doctors informed him that an operation was necessary to cure this disease. He agreed to have the operation done as he couldn’t hear anything apart from the severe pain in the ears.

When the operation was completed successfully, his doctor gave him the bill which covered all the costs.

The old man looked at the bill and started to cry. Upon seeing this, the doctor felt pity on the old man and told him that if the cost was too high then they could make some other arrangements.

The old man said “I am not crying because of the money but I am crying bechttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifause God let me hear for 80 years and He never sent me a bill.”

Moral: There are so many blessings of God which we don’t realize its importance, until it is snatched away from us."

I end this post with a tearful video:



or if it is not showing on your screen, click here.

Syawal is about forgive and forget. Have a blessed and joyful Eid Mubarak. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri :)

Say NO to Ear Candling

OMG. I was doing some MASH work while watching “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”. In this particular episode, Khloe came by to Jenner’s house and commented that she knows that Bruce, her stepdad is concerned with his hearing. So she bought him something. A “Harmony Cone”. Guess what that is? It’s a freaking ear candle! Khloe performed ear candling on Bruce on international television! And the whole family totally believed it and was like asking her to do his other ear! A definite no-no for an audiologist!!! Sigh. I am seriously AGAINST ear candling. It’s hazardous and actually caused deaths! In fact, I wrote a really good article about it, just waiting for it to be published in the local newspaper. If it’s not, watch out for this space!




Continuing with the Kardashians, so Bruce was obviously not hearing things and as a consequent not doing his responsibilities right. So he decided to see the Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Specialist, Dr. Sugarman. Bruce did a hearing test in a small sound booth and what looked like an ancient audiometer! (Sorry, but seriously I am feeling very much proud that my centre has a better audiology clinic and audiometer, hehe). I think he’s losing his high frequencies but the doctor was kindly saying that his hearing is normal for his age. I just wonder, what norms is he using?? Dr. Sugarman was also counselling him saying that maybe Kris (his wife) can try talking to him in a gentler, clearer manner rather than nagging him or screaming at him (that’s what I concluded). That made Bruce think he has selective hearing, which he then told Kris later when he got back home. Big mistake. You don’t tell your wife you’re tuning out on her! That’s the stupidest thing to say to a wife. I hope my husband won’t do that, ever! But then they talked things over, and things were good again.

Lesson to be learnt today: GOOD COMMUNICATION IS ESSENTIAL! (especially in marriage :P) And if you’re not hearing well, do a hearing test, NOT EAR CANDLING!

RM35 for a Hearing Screening Package by Gnosis Hearing Worth Up to RM520

Caught your eye? It certainly caught mine. I am very much impressed that Gnosis Hearing (TTDI branch in particular) is jumping in the bandwagon of promoting their services via social media. The buying power is definitely there right now. I myself am a regular visitor to the likes of dealmates.com.my (click link to this particular offer), groupon, hahah deals, ilovediscounts and many more. I am actually anticipating coopown to launch, because it looks pretty cool. (Yes, I am easily superficial at times :D)

Anyhow, good effort, Gnosis Hearing! All the best :)

Within Earshot: Special Edition

MASH's E-Newsletter came out with it's BHSM special edition for the public. Check it out here!

You can also check out excerpts of previous issue on the website :)

Fellow colleagues, if you are still not a member, join MASH today! Priviledges await :D

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month!

It's that time of the year again! May is Better Hearing and Speech Month, and you and you and you and yes, you, should know it by now!

It's easily the most anticipated month of the year for Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists :) Hearing and speech centres all over the country surely are organizing speech and hearing-related and fun-filled activities throughout the month. Which explains why I haven't been updating my blog as much as I want to :( I have a lot of topics to discuss on, but there never seems enough time, is there?

Nevertheless, check with your Audiologist/SLP or the nearest Hearing and Speech Centres for activities that you can join. I know SunMed has a good month going :)

MASH is also supporting its members' activities. MASH's theme for BHSM 2011: "Communication, Our Key to An Increased Quality of Life".
In fact, this month's MASH's e-newsletter, Within Earshot, will be shared to the public in conjunction with BHSM. Check it out on the website!

Naturally ASHA will come out with some cool stuff on their own. Don't forget to check out their website too!



ASHA's BHSM 2011 Logo

Come Join SunMed's Charity Jogathon!

This coming May, in conjunction with Better Hearing and Speech Month, Sunway Medical Centre is organizing SunMed Jogathon 2011! Proceeds from the event will be channeled to the Children's Wish Society of Malaysia (CWS). It is a society that grants a terminally ill child's last wish. To find out more about the society, check it out here.

Back to the event, so come one come all! It's for a good cause, and you'll get to burn that much-needed fat that you're dying to rid off (I know I do). In addition, for each registration you'll be entitled with race kits! So what are you waiting for, register now! Click here for there registration form.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss Awareness Campaign

Audiologists at Speech & Hearing Centre, Sunway Medical Centre will be having a booth over at the Sunway University Open Day this Sunday, 13th March, from 1pm to 5pm. They'll be doing a noise induced hearing loss awareness campaign, so if you're in the neighbourhood, do drop by! Information and goodies await! :D

The Simpsons: the Episode that Bart went Deaf?!

Was flipping the channels on tv when I settled on the Simpsons. It has been a while since I last watched an episode, so it was "fate" that I watched this particular episode. It was "The Donkey Basketball Game" (I have no idea what that is) episode. Tried to find the episode on youtube but couldn't. If anyone finds it, let me know okay?

Anyway, in the episode, Bart was not hearing well, or "deaf" as the rest of the Simpsons said. Homer and Marge brought him to see Dr. Hibbert - at the roadside, mind you. Dr. Hibbert took out his otoscope and saw that there's a swelling inside Bart's ear. He told Homer and Marge to give it a day and it will resolve on its own. So Bart went through the rest of the day, not hearing anything except white noise (that's what they showed, really!) which of course resulted in laugh-out-loud moments for me . He managed to be not bullied because he didn't respond to the bullies (he couldn't hear what they wanted!) and the funniest part for me was when the Simpsons had dinner later that day.

Marge was saying she wanted Bart to stay home from school the next day since he hasn't recovered. Bart disagreed because he wanted to watch the Donkey Basketball Game. Homer, whom kept asking Bart to pass this dish and that but didn't get any because Bart couldn't hear it, retorted something like, "Donkey Basketball Game? Now i've heard everything! (looking at Bart) Unlike you!" He laughed out and realized Bart didn't hear that remark and said to the rest of the family "Everybody remember that when he got his hearing back". LOL!

Bart did got his hearing back but of course at the expense of the Simpsons being labeled as unpatriotic. Anyway, the episode was hilarious, as always. But of course, the facts are not right! I'm not sure what type of hearing problem Bart had but it sure wouln't have caused him to go deaf! A bit of hard of hearing, yes, but not total deafness! Especially when's the swelling was only on one side of the ear! And that it can recover on it's own without anything!

But hey, they're doing it for laughs, so like Lenka sings, "Just enjoy the show~" Don't ask for your money back though! :D

Hearing & Hormones

I haven't gotten the chance to look up on this... so here's a quickie:

Does menopause affects hearing levels???

Please do share if you know anything about this :)

Can You Please Test My 3 Year-Old with AABR?

In my heart, I was like, "WHAT?!"

An aunty innocently asked me to do so recently. It was quite funny, really.

A baby was referred for hearing screening from an external hospital. The baby was brought in wide awake, so I advised the mother to put her to sleep. While waiting, I ushered the other family members who towed along to the lounge area. They were the maternal grandparents and 3 year-old nephew. As we were walking I noticed the boy vocalizing jargons. I began asking the grandmother questions. She reported that he's still not speaking a word yet. I told her she (and the child's working parents!) should be concerned with his speech development. So I went on and on about children development and the appropriate assessments needed. I even advised for a hearing test to be done, but granny wanted to talk it over with the child's parents first, which was fairly expected.

Back to the baby girl. Wow, she was really curious with the place. She looked so obviously sleepy but was still looking around the room. At one time, we thought she had fallen asleep, but she woke up at the slightest touch! The mother decided to take her out of the room and settle her down. As I wanted to leave the testing room, suddenly the granny rushed in carrying her sleeping grandson. She wanted me to test her boy with AABR that instant! I was shocked for a second, then quickly recovered by explaining to the granny that the test is designed for babies. Briefly I told her that her grandson needs to be assessed with a behavioral test, and if that is not successful, then only we test with a diagnostic sleeping test. She looked kind of disappointed with my explanation but accepted it anyways.

The baby later on slept and passed the AABR test. The family went back, happy with the result. Hopefully I'll hear from the granny about her grandson soon!

Funny start for the new year.

Happy 2011 y'all! :)

Pekak?

taken from the Malay Mail 15th December 2010

RM1k fine for threatening SMS

KUALA LUMPUR: All it took was an SMS to turn two best friends into enemies.
A despatch rider was fined RM1,000 by the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court here this morning for sending a threatening SMS to his former best friend.
Magistrate Zulkipli Abdullah said Mohd Rizal Ahmad Zailan, 30, faces a one-month jail term in default of payment.
Mohd Rizal, better known as "Pekak"(deaf) to his friends as he uses a hearing aid, pleaded guilty to the charge of committing criminal intimidation against Mohd Khairul Shafri Abdul Aziz, 26.
On April 16, 2008, Mohd Khairul had sought compensation from Mohd Rizal, claiming the latter had stolen a handphone belonging to Mohd Khairul's sibling.
Mohd Rizal had refused to pay. On April 28, 2008, Mohd Rizal sent a threatening SMS to Mohd Khairul saying: "Don't be arrogant. You just watch, I will kill you... I will come quietly."
Mohd Rizal asked for a lighter sentence as his wife is five-months pregnant and he also has a one-year-old child.

I put up this article because of the labeling. It is really so easy but terrible for people to label people with disabilities. These kind of people should be thankful that God blesses them with a fully normally functional body. Not everyone is as lucky as them, but for them to label people, it really makes me mad! I applaud Mohd Rizal for embracing his deafness and wearing a hearing aid (but not his crime!!!). It means he wants to be better and improve his quality of life. Not everyone is brave to do so. Hearing has always been taken for granted and it really should stop now!

For better hearing, always!