“CHICKEN RUN IN A MARATHON”

Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!

Listen, I heard that sound. It’s a clucking sound.

Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!

Uh-oh listen, that sound is getting louder and closer towards us. 

Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!

Look, it’s a chicken who makes the clucking sound. That chicken ran so fast until I could barely see its little legs. I wonder why the chicken is running. Is the chicken doing a fun run event or someone is trying to catch that chicken. I think someone is trying to catch that chicken and that chicken is scared. That is why the chicken is running.

……..YEEeeEEeeEEeeEEeeEEeettttt!.........

 

Wait! What is happening here? Chicken?? Running??

This chicken might get inspiration from Chicken Run the Movie in the year of 2000. But why is this chicken related to hearing?

It is just a tactic to attract you to read more and in a fun way. Let’s practice things like this with our kids. For a child who is wearing a hearing aid, spending time by making a lot of sounds motivates them to wear hearing aids more often. It can be animal sounds, like baa, baa, baa for a sheep, moo, moo for a cow and many more. Here, I will share with you several sounds that you could play around with your child.

·       “aaaa” - aeroplane sound or riding a rollercoaster

·       “moo” - a cow

·       “broooom” - a moving car

·       “chip chip” - a bird

·       “meow” - a cat

·       “bummm” - something crashing

·       “ting” - when the oven is ready

Be a child and activate your imagination. You can make any kind of sound to represent anything. Make it in a fun way, I believe children would love it and so will you.

Did you know some writers use ONOMATOPOEIA to give sound effect in their writing?

                  ONOMATOPOEIA

The act of creating or using words that include sounds that are similar to the noises the words refer to. “pop” “boom” “squelch” are onomatopoeic words (Cambridge Dictionary).

Try search onomatopoeia dictionary and you will find millions of sounds.

Let us get back to the little chicken story. Participating in a running/marathon event requires us to be prepared. In a nutshell, you need to prepare your body, plan your day, and mainly you need to prepare your mind to join the event. We need a lot of preparation for that, don't we?

The same thing should go with our kids especially those with hearing aids. Wearing hearing aids is a really NEW EXPERIENCE for you, your family and your child. Accepting hearing aid has been a big challenge for a parent, kids and even for ourselves. We do prepare ourselves accepting hearing aids but how about our child? Even when the child goes to school we need to prepare our child’s mentally and physically so that they would not cry due to separation or meeting new strangers.

THE MAIN THING IS TO GET YOUR CHILD READY TO WEAR HEARING AID/S.

Fitting hearing aids to children requires parent MOTIVATION, COMMITMENT and TIME. Not only a parent but all family members, siblings, friends, teachers, neighbours and community support. Small steps start from our home where the children meets most of the time. Rehabilitation starts with wearing hearing aid all the time.

GOAL 1            :  TOWARDS OPTIMAL HEARING ACCESS

TARGET           : PARENT AND CHILD

STRATEGIES   :

Ø  Attitude towards hearing aids

o   Not only your child but all family member

o   Prepare yourself before preparing others

o   Research about the benefit and limitations of hearing aids

o   Get review from parent with hearing impaired kids and join support group

o   Build a relationship with successful young hearing aid wearers

o   Maintain a good relationship with professional including Audiologist, Speech Therapist, ENT Doctors

o   Share with family member, neighbour, school teachers and community about hearing aids

Ø  Get your child’s mental ready towards hearing aid

o   Story to your child about hearing and introduce to hearing aids.

o   Role play with your child meeting with professional.

o   Let your child play with hearing aid wearer kids.

o   Picture your child’s mind with professional by showing their picture.

o   Visit hearing aid centre regularly just to familiarize your kids with the environment, Audiologist and hearing device itself

Ø  Fit your child’s hearing aid every morning every day

Ø  Spend time with your child by introducing sounds (used Chicken Run in a Marathon Story Technique)

Ø  Be creative and decorate child’s hearing aid based on child’s preference

Ø  Reward your child wearing hearing aids with things that interest them

Ø  Wearing huggie or BTE clip

                                 

                                                        Figure 1 Huggie                                                             

Figure 2 BTE Clip

More strategies and explanation have been shared by my colleague, Miss Tasnim in her post- http://eartisticmalaysia.blogspot.my/2017/03/keeping-hearing-devices-on-your-little.html

Do follow and join us for more exciting activities and tips in Earichment Programme at Eartistic Hearing and Balance Centre.

Shared with love by,

Zahidah Zainal

Audiologist

Eartistic Hearing and Balance Centre, Shah Alam

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HEARING LOSS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER INDIVIDUAL

HEARING LOSS WITH OTHER DISABILITIES
 

Individual with hearing loss and additional disabilities represent by extensively varied and complex population. They vary in the type and degree of their hearing loss, the type and degree of their associated disability, and their general level of functioning.  About 30-40% of newborns who have hearing loss have additional neurodevelopmental disorder. Table 1 below shows the percentage of disabilities that occur in children with hearing loss by Gallaudet Research Institute (2005).

Additional disabilities	% of children with hearing loss
No additional disabilities	57.6
Low vision / legal blindness	4.6
Intellectual disabilities	10.0
Autism	1.0
Orthopedic disabilities (including cerebral palsy)	3.7
Learning disabilities	9.2
Attention deficit disorder/ attention deficit hyperactivity disorder	6.3
Emotional disabilities	1.9
Other	6.9

Table 1: The percentage of disabilities that occur in children with hearing loss by Gallaudet Research Institute (2005)

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD)

What is Autism? Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by a triad of symptoms including qualitative impairments in social interaction, qualitative in communication, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviours, activities, and interests (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Autism spectrum disorder (APD) also includes pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), Asperger’s syndrome, Rett’s syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder. 

            There is no solid evidence to suggest that individual with autism have a greater risk of hearing loss than the general population but the incidence of unusual sensory responses, including abnormal responses to sounds is considered as associated characteristic of autism.  For example, individual with autism normally to be too sensitive to sound, when loud or unexpected sounds arise, they covering theirs ears with their hands.  

HEARING TEST FOR ASD INDIVIDUAL 

            Children with autism who have hearing loss are diagnosed on average, almost 1 year later than those without hearing loss (Madell et al., 2005). Majority those with autism show cognitive deficits, behaviours abnormalities, and hypersensitivity to sensory stimulation, thus modification to traditional hearing testing should be considered. 

Audiologist will want to minimize physical contact with autistic children who have tactile sensitivities. For example audiologist may require initial testing in sound filed which is using the speaker instead of using the earphone. 

            Regardless of the chronological age of the individual, audiologist will use behavioural test procedures that are appropriate for their cognitive.  For example typical behavioural testing procedure used with infant or young children such as visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) or play audiometry will be used with older children or even adults. 

            If an individual with autism not allow the placement of earphone or probes for individual ear testing, audiologist may have to re-establish to sedate procedures for certainly for those plans to fit with hearing aids. Individual with autism are hard to sedate with pediatric sedation agent and are at risk for seizure while under sedation (Mehta et al, 2004).

HEARING AID FOR INDIVIDUAL WITH ASD

            Individual with autism who has tactile sensitivities and hearing loss, we should expect some struggle and rejection to wear hearing aids.  

Technique to introduce the hearing aids to individual with AS3D:

1.     Start by having the parent or caregiver gently massage the patient’s ear several times a day until little or no resistance is offered.  This may require some time; days, weeks or months depending to the degree of tactile sensitivity.

2.     Introduce to one ear only, with a soft earmould first, without connected with the hearing aid until they willing to wear for longer period of time.

3.     Once the earmould is tolerated with little resistance, the hearing aid can be couple with the earmould and switch on. Then, introduce the hearing aids at another side.

4.     The hearing aid need to be secured to their clothing by using the special hearing aid clip so that even they pull the hearing aids from their ears, the hearing aid is secured to their clothing.    

REFERANCE

Katz et al. (2009). Handbook of Clinical Audiology 6^th.. Edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.  

ATIQAH SOLEHAH BINTI JAMIL
AUDIOLOGIST EARTISTIC HEARING AND BALANCE CENTER, TT

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How to take a good care of your hearing aids?

Why we should care for our hearing aids? This is very crucial in order to maintain optimum hearing quality and increase the life of hearing aids. Here are some information on how to maintain your hearing aids in optimum conditions:

Batteries

Generally, a piece of battery can last about 1 to 2 weeks depend on the usage and power of hearing aids. Check battery level regularly using battery tester so hearing aids able to function well. Throw away empty batteries and keep spare batteries in hearing aids case.

Cleaning and removing earwax

Clean your hearing aids regularly using soft cloth or tissue. If you observe any wax blockage on your ear mould, detach it from hearing aids, then remove it with cleaning tool and air blower. For receiver in the ear (RITE) wearers, you can change a new wax filter once it is being blocked with wax.

Keep hearing aids dry

Before going to sleep is the best time to dry the moisture of hearing aids. Remove batteries from your hearing aids. Let the battery door open, then put hearing aids and ear moulds in the drying beaker that filled with silica gel to dry the moisture overnight. Electrical dehumidifier can be another option if there is excessive moisture.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Ensure to remove your hearing aids before taking shower and protect hearing aids from being wet by rain as well.

Right & left hearing aids

Ensure that your hearing aids have red and blue markers in order to differentiate between right and left ears. If you are fitted both sides, each side has its own adjustment and setting according to hearing level for each ear. Hence, wrong placement of hearing aids between right and left ears may lead to hearing damage as well as discomfort feeling for wearers. 

Regular general service

It is highly recommended to send your hearing aids twice or three times in a year for general service, which can help your hearing aids to be functioned in optimum level for a longer time.

Written by,

Nurul Atieqa

Eartistic Audiologist at Sungai Petani

References:

https://www.asha.org/public/hearing/Daily-Care-for-the-Hearing-Aid/

https://www.healthyhearing.com/help/hearing-aids/cleaning

https://www.hearing.com.au/caring-hearing-aid/

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Ringing or buzzing?

Have you experienced ringing in the ear? Or any other sounds like clicking or buzzing especially in quiet environment? Afraid not, you are not alone and that is called Tinnitus. In some condition, the tinnitus can lasts for more than minutes or even all the time. So, what exactly is tinnitus? According to American Speech-language and Hearing Association, tinnitus is defined as ringing in the ears when there are no other sound are present. Tinnitus is not a disease but a symptom of an underlying health condition in most cases and the most popular tinnitus often associated to:

·      Hearing loss

·      Obstruction of middle ear

·      Neck and head trauma

·      Temporomandibular Joint disorder

·      Sinus Pressure and Barometric Trauma

·      Traumatic Brain Injury

·      Ototoxic Drug

·      Other disease and medical condition.

Tinnitus can be divided into 2 categories:

·      Objective Tinnitus – physician or doctor and patient can hear the tinnitus. Usually is associated with obstruction of abnormal blood flow in head area.

·      Subjective Tinnitus: Only patient can hear the tinnitus.

Tinnitus cannot harm people. But the effect of the tinnitus can be harmful as it effect the quality of life. Based on a survey done by American Tinnitus Association in 2014, people with tinnitus often experienced distress, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances and also irritability or frustration. And these will affect the quality of life of the person.

For people who are having tinnitus, it is advisable to reduce caffeine intact, control your stress level, have enough sleeping, increase antioxidant food, and seek advice from the professionals.

We, audiologists at Eartistic, are here to help anyone with tinnitus as we provide

·      Full hearing evaluation

·      Tinnitus assessment

·      Customised tinnitus management along with hyperacusis

·      Counseling

If you have this tinnitus or think you may have tinnitus, please seek help as you are not alone. We are here to help you.

Written by,

Amirul Asyraf Jamaludin

Audiologist JB branch

Reference

Tinnitus by American Speech-language and Hearing Association, retrieved from https://www.asha.org/public/hearing/Tinnitus/

The Human Impact on Tinnitus by American Tinnitus Association, retrieved from https://www.ata.org/understanding-facts/impact-tinnitus

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