Call For Establishment Of Audiology Centre

Press, Volume C, Issue 29498, 27 April 1961, Page 20

Call For Establishment Of Audiology Centre

The 'wtabli*hrrwirt of a national audiology eantre. staffed with an otologist, an electrical engineer, and an audiologist, with periods of overseas training tor these officer*, is recommended in an interim report of the service* for the deaf Committee of th* Board at Health. To meet the special need* of the deaf medically, educationally. and socially, fee committee consider* feat certain service* must be established without delay, says fee report. tacMsnce sf Dcstatss Working on fee results Of a survey of deafness in England, Scotland, and Wales, and reducing the figure* to a twenty-fifth to compensate for the differences tn population, the committee estimates that about 70JM0 persons in New Zealand are deaf. Whether the incidence of deafness increases during the next few years, the problems posed will increase, say* fee report. The reasons given for this are: better techniques in ascertaining deafness in the young, leading to earlier detection; the increasing proportion of elderly persons in the community; the growth of secondary industry; and the discovery of more cases of deafness among Maoris. Speaking of secondary industries, the report says that, taking the boilermaking, panelbeating, and sheetmetal trades together, one apprentice in three shows early hearing loss at the end of four years in the trade. Preliminary investigations by the industrial medical officers of the Department of Health indicate that the incidence of deafness in such industries as engineering, carpet making, sawmilling, railway workshops, and many others reveal a serious and definite occupational hazard. Hearing Clinics The committee believes that the effectiveness of hearing clinics must remain below the desirable level until there is an organisation able to give them expert assistance with technical problems. Clinics are using a variety of audiometers to ascertain the degree of deafness in patients, and many of these audiometers have not been accurately calibrated. None is calibrated to a uniform standard. Patients needing hearing aids may be denied the subsidy they are entitled to because of inaccurate audiometers, and some patients may be fitted with hearing aids when in fact they do not need them. This confusion is complicated by the complete lack

of audfiometrician* trained in fe* use at fee report. .. Aw aeeden a*a electrical engineer* eqwtfljau wife facilities aahbfjgMl struct that an electric*!, engin—r, Jirt wwkfeg*** a team at an pi*OG*vdDa!a wEyH.-’WMw Th* staffU°Sdfe a an otologist, acting a* it* Strartor. mi electrical engineer, and M audiologist, at Auckland, where fe*ra 1* aweafiy- • Health Department audi01cSeTD reasons given for suggesting Auckland As fed place for such a centre ar* that Auckland is the largest centre of population. It ha* the largest concentration of industry in Naw Zealand and the bigger of the schools, for the deaf, it it an appropriate centre from which to attack the special ear problems rt Maori communities, and it ha* many institution* equipped to cater for those with multiple handicap*. Oversea* Training It should be recognised that the staff of the audiology centre would be engaged in establishing a medical service unlike any other attempted in New Zealand, says the report. To ensure that the otologist, engineer, and audiologist are not, in fee early stage* of their work, working in a vacuum, it is recommended that each spend a period at the Australian Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories. The establishment of an audiology centre would ensure that suitable electronic equipment was obtained in the first place, that it was properly maintained and calibrated, and that technicians would be trained in its use, the report conclude*.