2 nd International Loop Conference Washington DC, June 2011 Dispensing Professionals Panel The Irish Perspective Emma McAuley

2nd International Loop Conference - June Who am I??... A ‘consumer’… A ‘dispenser’… An ‘advocate’…

2nd International Loop Conference - June Who am I??... Born in Dublin Hereditary hearing loss –Severe in low frequencies/profound in high frequencies h/aid from age of 12 Main stream school and college A ‘consumer’…

2nd International Loop Conference - June And also a consumer advocate... Accounting Technician Mull of Kintyre (Scotland) for 2 years Irish Hard of Hearing Association (IHHA) & Young Action on Hearing (YAH) National Association for Deaf People (NAD) (now DeafHear.ie) IHHA Brief CV!!...

2nd International Loop Conference - June …And a dispenser Started my training as an Audiologist in 2002 And qualified in 2005 Began testing client’s hearing in DeafHear.ie commenced dispensing hearing aids at a nominal cost.

2nd International Loop Conference - June DeafHear.ie DeafHear.ie is a unique organisation in the Deaf sector. DeafHear provides a range of services to over 32,500 Deaf and Hard of Hearing people and their families annually. It also has a wider impact on the lives of all Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in Ireland through advocacy and campaigning for improved health and education services, and for better access to society for all.

2nd International Loop Conference - June So Why did DeafHear start Dispensing hearing aids…? Exorbitant costs of hearing aids in the private market (free h/aids only available to those with medical cards i.e. who meet means test criteria) Poor quality/lack of customer care/support Lack of ‘linking-in’ with DeafHear for new hearing aid wearers to avail of support and/or advice. Client’s coming in to purchase Assistive Technology but found they had limited choices as they had no ‘telecoil’ in their hearing aids.

2nd International Loop Conference - June And what our Hearing Care Services Offer now… All-in-One Stop Shop –Free hearing test and careful explanation of hearing loss –Hearing aids to match lifestyle and budget –Information on Grants available –Staff who understand what it is like to live with a hearing loss. –Link in with Assistive Technology Service Aural Rehabilitation Classes Individual and/or group support service –And much, much more….!!!

2nd International Loop Conference - June My client’s hearing aid journey… Case History Otoscopy/Video Otoscopy Tympanometry Audiometry Clear explanation of Hearing Levels (mild, moderate etc and use of speech banana audiogram)

2nd International Loop Conference - June My client’s hearing aid journey… Review of client’s lifestyle in terms of listening environments. Selection of hearing aid styles based on their: –Audiogram –Lifestyle –Dexterity –Cosmetic preference

2nd International Loop Conference - June My client’s hearing aid journey… Small IIC or CICs – limitations explained RICs are favoured with me more than CICs for terms of comfort and features, and also because RICs now can accommodate telecoils!! Moderate or greater losses – cosmetics less of a priority Also offered are ITCs, ITEs & BTEs

2nd International Loop Conference - June My client’s hearing aid journey… The technology level within the hearing aid is then selected according to what the client can afford coupled with their needs (lifestyle) and preferences.

2nd International Loop Conference - June Telecoils – To ‘T’ or not to ‘T’ Many client’s have not heard about a ‘hearing loop’ or a ‘telecoil’ before they come to DeafHear.ie The way I describe it is: “it’s like listening to a radio in the kitchen, and then you go and plug in a set of headphones and listen through the headphones; the sound becomes much clearer, because there’s no distortion due to reverberation of sound off the hard surfaces, and no background noise etc…”

2nd International Loop Conference - June Telecoil, Telecoil, Telecoil… Where the telecoil is available within the hearing aid, I ALWAYS order it and programme it. I programme it as ‘telecoil only’ as I know from personal experience that ‘if it is going to help me then I’d only want to hear to speaker’. Two aids are better than one – one on ‘T’ setting and one on ‘normal’!! I know in some modern hearing aids you can have a touchless telecoil setting for the phone but what good is that for a conference or at the bank? Manufacturers hate my hand going up!!! “…And what about the ‘telecoil’?”

2nd International Loop Conference - June Do you have a telecoil? Modern lay out of hearing aid now makes it more difficult to tell if a telecoil is fitted when visually looking at someone’s hearing aid. “Can you hear the ‘tick, tick, tick’ of your watch – you have a telecoil!!” “Oh” comes the response, “I thought that was the ‘off’ switch…” HUH???

2nd International Loop Conference - June Tick, Tick, Tick… When in a place where a ‘loop’ is advertised, but no sound appears to be coming through, check for the ‘tick, tick, tick’ of your watch… if you hear it you know your telecoil is activated – but the loop in-situ is A) volume not turned up!! B) not turned on C) not in-situ

2nd International Loop Conference - June The Tale of the Loop… And as one HoH friend of mine told me recently after she had been to a funeral of a very close friend… “I arrived at the church – not looking forward to the occasion, sad as it was, but knowing that I wouldn’t hear a word. When seated inside and once the service had started, I reluctantly activated my telecoil, knowing as is often the case, there would be a ‘dead’ sound (pardon the pun!)”

2nd International Loop Conference - June BUT!!! “Lo, and behold, I could hear very clearly and distinctly every single word the priest was saying…. My husband, on leaving the church at the end of the service, commented “I couldn’t hear a word that man was saying – he just mumbled and mumbled.” I joyfully replied “I heard EVERY WORD””

2nd International Loop Conference - June Any Questions????