The 25 February was International Cochlear Implant (CI) Day. Over 50 years after the introduction of CIs, how far have we progressed in ensuring access to CI and CI services for those who could benefit? Only between five and 10%...
‘Checklists’ in the operating room make for safer surgery, better handovers and improved patient care. Can we apply the principles we have learned since Atul Gawande and the WHO pioneered this approach to surgery to our own wellbeing as doctors,...
Tonsillectomy is amongst the most common surgical procedures performed across the western world. For patients who report bleeding post-tonsillectomy, but have no clinical findings on examination, the management can be unclear. The accepted current management in most centres would be...
The authors argue that the current Barany criteria (ICVD) for vestibular migraine (definite and probable – dVM and pVM) are too restrictive. For instance, whereas a category of chronic migraine with or without aura is recognised in ICHD-3, ‘chronic VM’...
What is implicit bias and how might it affect patient outcomes in hearing healthcare? Yovina Khiroya provides insight into the terminology and the effect on people and service delivery. As much as possible within healthcare, we try to reduce implicit...
For me, the title of this book conjures up an historical image. I imagine an early 20th century consulting room, an otologist with a head mirror and bull’s eye lamp. A pre-antibiotic era in which a patient’s otorrhoea is meticulously...
Moisture can damage any electronic devices including hearing aids. It is commonly known that rice can ‘rescue’ an electronic device if wetted. Authors of the below-described study researched whether uncooked rice could be used as an efficient equivalent to often...
It is very important to properly assess occupational fitness for several occupations such as police officer, military personnel or fire fighter. The aim of this study was to develop a British English speech in noise (SiN) test as a tool...
The authors have raised an interesting subject concerning the ability of customers to self-assess their hearing aid handling skills. Previous studies showed that 96% of customers when asked if they are able to manage their hearing aids answered ‘yes’. However,...
Money is always a controversial topic if discussed in reference to healthcare. This study raises the interesting topic of difficulties when it comes to discussing the costs of hearing aids with customers. Sixty-two audiological appointments were recorded and discussions concerning...
This study aimed to research how speech recognition, listening effort and localisation depends on hearing aids’ microphone configuration in people with moderate to severe hearing losses. Eighteen participants with sensorineural, symmetrical, moderate to severe hearing loss were tested. Participants were...
This article caught my eye for personal and professional reasons. As a full time ENT trainee working 24-hour on-calls, I also have young children who have never slept through the night and don’t respect weekends or days off. My FRCS...