Dining with family members, amongst the clinking of dishes and glasses, the sounds of conversations and laughter, the husband, a user of hearing aids, misses his wife’s request to bring another bottle of wine. After a third try, the wife,...
The words ‘choice and competition’, ‘any qualified provider (AQP)’ and ‘accreditation’ have irrevocably become part of audiology jargon in the last two years in England. Commissioners who chose ‘Adult Hearing Aid Services for age-related hearing loss’ have begun the process...
Abi Asher, Clinical Lead for the IAD programme in Cambridge describes how hearing care professionals work together to make the best recommendation for the patient, in turn helping navigate through the various devices now on offer. Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are...
There is often a great deal of confusion over the words ‘management’ and ‘leadership’. Sometimes they are used interchangeably. Sometimes they are used to represent opposite ends of a spectrum. Sometimes both are used as collective nouns, or to describe an activity.
Let’s get back to basics: Dr Schoepflin introduces the concepts behind speech testing for hearing care professionals. While pure tone threshold testing is considered the ‘gold standard’ for assessing auditory sensitivity, the results of pure tone testing provide only limited...
In this useful and practical article, the authors describe their use of transnasal oesophagoscopy, including the range of clinical scenarios in which it is used. What is TNO? Transnasal oesphagoscopy (TNO) is a technique that can be used in the...
Ear wax removal remains a controversial subject in the UK. How will a strategy group support reform in the sector? Background: elevating standards in aural care The National Aural Care Strategy Group (NACSG) was established to address the multifaceted challenges...
Barotrauma is an injury which is due to the effects of pressure upon an air-containing space. Healthy middle ear cavities and paranasal sinuses are normally in equilibrium with the atmospheric pressure, but if an individual moves away from the surface,...
In this article, the authors describe a simple and effective technique for extracting an aspirated voice prosthesis from within the tracheobronchial tree in the awake laryngectomised patient using the Ambu® aScopeTM 4 Broncho endoscope. Surgical voice restoration remains the dominant...
Restful sleep is crucial for health but conditions like obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) can significantly disrupt it, leading to fatigue, cardiovascular issues, and other serious health problems. Polysomnography (PSG) remains the gold standard for OSA diagnosis [1], however it is...
When multi-channel cochlear implants (CIs) were first introduced in the 1980s, their use was restricted to people who derived no benefit from conventional amplification. Over the past three decades, however, the criteria for CIs has been relaxed considerably, and it...
The Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss (OCHL) study of 300 children with hearing loss has targeted several factors that are under the control of audiologists and parents. Drs McCreery and Walker discuss how these ‘lessons learned’ can lead to...