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the differential diagnosis between deafness and other possible causes
of communication difficulty, notably, mental retardation. In this
connection, it is now the approved practice in this Area before any
child is ascertained as unsuitable for education in school under the
Education Act 1944, for him first to be screened at the Audiology
Unit to ensure that deafness plays no part in his mental retardation.
The peripatetic teacher of the deaf visits pre-school children
in their own homes to provide the necessary training to ensure they
gain the maximum benefit from their hearing aids and, at the same
time, to give the appropriate guidance to their parents. Children
at ordinary schools, recommended for auditory training by the
otologist, are visited by the peripatetic teacher after consultation
with Mr. Brown and the head teachers of the schools concerned.
As yet the peripatetic teacher has no room of her own at the unit
where she can train children and interview parents but, ultimately, it
is hoped that some such provision can be made.
During the year a conference of the audiometricians in the
employ of the Local Education Authority was held, under the
chairmanship of Dr. Fisch. The aim of this conference, at which
a number of school medical officers attended, was to consider methods
of training and practice to ensure a uniform standard of audiometry.
Perhaps the least satisfactory part of the Audiology service is
in the making of good inserts for hearing aids and in the provision
of these instruments without undue delay. At the present time
children, having been recommended for a hearing aid at the Audiology
Unit, then have to travel to a hospital in the Central London area
for the inserts to be fitted, and there may be three to four months
delay between the time the need for a hearing aid is confirmed and
when it is in use by the child. As one looks to the future it
becomes increasingly apparent that a fully-functioning audiology unit
must have provisions for taking impressions of the inserts and for
issuing hearing aids at the unit itself.
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