Ida Institute - great site for aural rehabilitation reference, among others

I was first introduced to Ida Institute in my aural rehabilitation lecture by Angela Marshall, during my master's course. Since then other lecturers and clinical supervisors repeatedly encourage to look up this website as well because Ida Institute have amazing tools and information that would benefit any clinician. In fact, I myself have been subscribing to this, and it is really an interesting site: they have forums, reviews, ideas for clinics, and the list goes on. I wouldn't want to keep it all to myself, so if you have the chance, check it out! Or better yet, subscribe to their mailing list. Happy learning! :)

Wishing for a naturally good hearing... so legitly real yet underrated.

"I would love not to have small children go shy and silent when their mommy tells them, “You have to get the attention of Gigi (short for Grandma Gael) before you speak to her. And face her. And speak up.” What 2 ½ year old is going to say anything after that?!"

It doesn't even have to be small children, even adults go silent if I tell someone has a hearing impairment. They just don't know what to do/react!

Read the full article here, by Gael Hannan, Editor of Hearing Health at HearingHealthMatters.org, as posted in March 2016.

Now. Which favours of your Lord will you deny? (Ar-Rahman)

A Hearing System in Your Mouth?!

Can't believe what you're seeing? Believe it.

SoundBite, the latest innovation of a hearing device. See below article to find out more. The things people come up with. I wonder how comfortable it is to wear. Because whenever you have something on your teeth, it's never comfortable~ for me that is. I hated my dentist visits with a passion!

And the device is using bone conduction method. So will the teeth vibrate when the microphone picks up the sound? I seriously could not imagine!

SoundBite In-the-Mouth Hearing System Is FDA Cleared for Single-Sided Deafness | February 3, 2011 | The Insider | The Hearing Review | Hearing Review Products

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 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 :)

Symptoms of Hearing Loss

If you experience any of these symptoms, do immediately seek an audiologist's consultation:

1. Not being able to understand others' speech - people seem to be mumbling when they are speaking

2. Misinterpreting what others say

3. Loss of confidence

4. Difficulty understanding conversation in group settings

5. Asking others to repeat themselves

6. Difficulty hearing television, radio and/or telephone

7. Difficulty hearing in public gatherings such as concert halls or theatres where sound sources are far away

Don't wait and see. Your hearing senses deserve better!