These children presented with active otitis media and were not feeling up to the manual testing task. I turned to conditioning them with play audiometry and was able to complete the testing needed on all four children in under an hour—solo. I was initially skeptical, as I was in full view of the child and was using one hand to assist with conditioning and the other to operate the tablet simultaneously. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my proximity did not distract the child from the task at hand.
Topic(s): Audiology Today, On Trend, Audiometric Test, Pediatric Audiology, Pediatric, Patient care
The standard behavioral procedures used to assess the hearing of very young children are powerful tools. Yet, even in the hands of a skilled clinician, they are nearly worthless unless the child is ready to be tested. Thus, it is helpful—indeed necessary—to draw on techniques that get the child to do what we want the child to do.
Topic(s): Psychology, Professional Development, immittance, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), tympanometry, Audiometric Test, Acoustic, auditory brainstem response (ABR)
Hearing-care professionals (HCPs) and hearing aid wearers report the chief complaint secondary to hearing loss and to wearing traditional hearing aids, is the inability to understand speech-in-noise (SIN; see Beck et al, 2019). Beck et al (2018) reported that, in addition to the 37 million Americans with audiometric hearing loss, 26 million have hearing difficulty and/or difficulty understanding SIN, despite clinically normal thresholds. As such, helping people hear (i.e., to perceive sound) and helping people listen (i.e., to comprehend, or apply meaning to sound) remains paramount.
Topic(s): speech-in-noise, Hearing, Hearing Loss, Sensorineural Hearing Loss, Noise Reduction, Audiometric Test
