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16
PART II SPECIALIST SERVICES
AUDIOLOGY SERVICE
Mr. J.C. Oakley, Peripatetic Teacher of the Deaf
1971 was a very busy year for the Audiology Clinic, 1,391 children
were tested by pure tone audiometry, this included routine follow-up cases,
cases referred by School Medical Officers and 642 Sweep Test Failures.
Regular clinics were held at Lodge Road, Croydon, Park Way New Addington
and Whytecliffe Road, Purley. The pre-school children requiring auditory
training were seen regularly in the Lodge Road Clinic or at home, where
parent guidance was given and in some cases, speech training was given by
the Speech Therapists. In addition, Speech Training Machines were loaned
to parents, for use at home.
94 children were seen by either Mr. Parsons or Mr. Stewart, the Corporation's
Consultant Otologists, who held regular sessions at Lodge Road and
the Partially Hearing Units. 20 hearing aids were recommended during the
year, 7 of these were National Health Service 'Medresco' aids and the other
13, Commercial aids paid for by the Corporation. Commercial aids are considered
necessary if the hearing loss is greater than the range covered by
the 'Medresco' aid, or if there is a sharp perceptive loss in the higher frequencies.
The 'Medresco' aid has no automatic volume control and cannot
be tolerated by children with such a loss, as the hearing is often normal for
the lower frequencies and a general amplification of sound causes a considerable
amount of distortion and may become painful.
118 babies were seen at the special clinic held in conjunction with Dr.
Morgan for the early assessment of deafness in young babies, 13 of these
were referred to Mr. Parsons for further assessment. Blood tests on the
failures were also carried out as part of a survey held in conjunction with
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, to investigate the question
of rubella as a possible cause of the deafness. It was necessary to increase
the number of sessions to cope with the list of babies waiting to be
assessed.
During the year, all infant schools were visited at least once and apart
from absentees and unco-operative children (482), all children newly admitted
to school during the year were tested. Tests were also carried out in the
Special Schools. Of the 8,217 children tested, 722 (approx. 8.7%) failed the
test and were referred to the Audiology Clinic for further assessment. We
were sorry to lose Mrs. Marshall at the end of the Summer term, her place was
taken by Mrs. Godderhan.
For additional statistical details, see Appendix B , Page 58.