Yearly hearing evaluations for those who may be exposed to noise on a daily basis. Today, I observed a client who works in an environment where noise may affect hearing thresholds if prevention is not taken.
First, a case history was taken from the client. The client informed us that he/she has a history of hearing loss in the family. He/she also has high blood pressure. When asked if a change in hearing was noticed, the client responded that he/she did not notice any change.
Otoscopy was then performed. The outer ears, canals, and tympanic membranes of both ears appeared normal. The clinician next performed tympanometry. The clinician first attempted to get a seal in the right ear but was having much trouble. She switched to the other ear to prevent soreness in the clients right ear. After obtaining normal results in the left ear, the clinician then switched to the right year again and received normal results. The clicinian also tested acoustic relfexes contralaterally at 1000Hz and received 90 in the right ear and 85 in the left.
The clinician finally performed puretone air conduction testing for both ears. The audiograms revealed high frequency hearing losses in both ears. The audiogram had not changed much since the clients last visit.
The clincian explained the audiogram to the client. The supervisor then asked the client if he/she was using appropriate preventative measures when being exposed to noise. The client said that he/she was following procedures for work. The supervisor also mentioned that this type of loss may be the result of the normal aging process. The website listed at the end of the blog briefly explains how the cochlea changes resulting in high frequency losses as a person ages ("The cause...). The supervisor mentioned that communication should not be affected, and the client agreed that communication was fine. The supervisor and clicnician encouraged the client to continue using hearing protection. I found the following website which actually contains a long list of helpful sites to review hearing conservation. http://www.asha.org/about/membership-certification/divs/hearinglinks.htm The client was finished until next year!
The cause of hearing loss in adults. (n.d.). Retrieved September 25, 2007, from http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/causes_adults.htm
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3 comments:
I found an article talking about noise and chemical exposure.
This study found noise exposure and exposuure to the chemical Toluene compounded the hearing loss. So many time we think of the decibels hitting our ears, not the airborn chemicals.
Chepesiuk, R. (2006). Hearing loss, loud and clear: combined effect of noise and Toluene in workers. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114(8). Retrieved September 26, 2007, from JSTOR database.
I observed a DPS client at the same time you did, who actually worked with your client. I found it interesting that both of our clients results were about the same as last year. I guess this means their hearing conservation program is working!
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