I observed the same client as Chrissy. My observation slot was directly following Chrissy's, and I was allowed to observe with her. The client I observed was a female in her sixties or seventies. Her chief complaint was the loudness of her own voice, from the occlusion effect. The client was in the clinic to receive her new hearing aids. She previously had bilateral HAs, but she did not always use the both of them at the same time. The clinician used the Quick SIN test. Quick SIN's goal is to determine the clients ability to hear with varying levels of noise while listening to speech sentences. Each sentence contains keywords the clinician is looking for the client to repeat. This test was performed aided and unaided during the session.
Next, the client received her new HAs. Her previous set of HAs and her new set of HAs are in the ear HAs. The client's HAs were hooked to the computer to be programmed accordingly. The software used to program the hearing aids was Oticon Tego Pro. The programming or prescription consisted of trial and error to get the HAs the way the client wanted them. After the Rx was completed, the HAs were hooked to the computer again for a feedback test. The Feedback Manager uses various tones and can auto-correct the feedback issues one ear at a time. The client was retested with her new HAs and Rx. To her delight, the client said the new HAs were, "Really different".
Then, clinician explained how to use the new HAs as they had a three memory function for different listening situations. The first setting was for everyday listening, the second was for noisy environments, and the third was to be used while on the telephone. Next, the clinician explained the cleaning and care of the HAs. The clinician knew the client was familiar with HAs, but did it as a refresher or a review.
Next, the clinician performed the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) test. This test consist of several questions of everyday experiences regarding her HAs and then the client's scores will be compared to previous APHAB test and kept on record for future APHAB test.
Finally, the session finished with the contract of the HAs. This includes the trial period allowed in case the client decides she does not like them.
I linked an article/website allowing ng anybody to download the APHAB test. There are files of the test as well as how to score them. I never heard of the test, so I assumed most of you have not either, which is why I thought it would be a good resource.
http://www.ausp.memphis.edu/harl/aphab.html
Abbreviated profile of hearing aid benefit (APHAB). (n.d.). Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://www.ausp.memphis.edu/harl/aphab.html
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2 comments:
Robert. That observation sounded awesome. It's always fun to see how a patient, whether experienced with hearing aids or not, deal with a set of devices. You have to consider how they will hand it if they have any sort of dexterity problems, etc. I am curious if she will wear both regularly, or continue to wear one or the other like you reported she had in the past. Do you know for sure if she wore one hearing aid more than the other? That might be interesting, because one ear might have gotten worse from lack of stimulation, making the fine tunning (what is satisfying to her) of her new aids difficult.
Also, that APHAB is similar to the COSI form that I have used in clinic. It's nice because you go over goals with the client, and see what they truely want to accomplish with their re/habilitation and treatment.
Nice post!
Hey. Thanks for that website. I totally forgot about the hearing aid dryers that are pretty much required for full functioning hearing aids. At the clinic I use to work for, we handed out these: http://www.adcohearing.com/media/3313E.jpg , which is just a smaller, more expensive version of the one you sent to me. This one comes with a metal plate with little silicon balls in it. If they are blue they are working and will suck the moisture from the hearing aid if you put the hearing aid in there every night. If the balls turn pink it means you need to bake them in the oven. So you take out the metal plate and bake the silicon balls until they turn blue again, then it will continue to dry out your hearing aids every night. I found that the clients liked it, and thought it was easy to handle.
So yeah, thanks for the website!
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