View report page

Unfortunately one deficiency must still be reported. This concerns accommodation. As we have already
mentioned in last year's report, the most urgent need as far as accommodation is concerned is for an adequate
waiting room, toilet provision, and for a one-way observation room.
Dr. Douglas and the audiometricians carried out an investigation into the possibilities of pre-school audiometry
and possibility of pre-school screening for speech difficulties. The results of this investigation will be published
in a paper which is being prepared.
An improvement can be reported concerning the taking of impressions from the ears of children who need a
hearing aid. Our audiometricians have been trained to take the impressions and this has proved to be very
successful.
Very satisfactory co-operation can be reported between the clinic and Blanche Nevile School and the Headmaster
Mr. Stanway. Children who attend at the school or at one of the classes for partially hearing children are
regularly re-assessed. Almost invariably the class teacher of the child attends with the child so that the
re-assessment of the child can be carried out jointly. This proved to be very beneficial.
The electronic engineer of the Blanche Nevile School gives us valuable help with some of our technical
problems. His work concerns the supervision and repair of hearing aids of all children who attend the Audiology
Unit. This is most useful and ensures the effective use of hearing aids.
A successful course for Health Visitors was held. Organisation of this course was in the hands of Miss Frost,
the Health Education Officer. Three doctors from Holland attended this course. They had been especially sent
to this country for this purpose.
The clinic was frequently visited by various visitors and we provided facilities for observing clinical work
to student teachers of the deaf and to student Health Visitors.
The booklet on High Frequency loss, which was published last year, proved to be very successful and contributed
significantly to better understanding of this particular type of hearing difficulty and, consequently, to better
management of these children. A similar booklet on unilateral deafness was prepared and is ready for printing."

Pre-School Children 402
Attending Infant and Junior Schools 339
Attending Senior Schools 145
Total 886
Reason for referral of new cases:—
For diagnosis 197
Known to be deaf, examination before
admission to Blanche Nevile School 5
Immigrants to Borough known to be deaf 9
Partially hearing, advice as to placement 3
Auditory training 10
"At risk" 122
Transfer from hospital out-patients departments 15
Advice as to placement where deafness might
be the cause of backwardness 3
Total 364
58 of the above referrals were from other boroughs.
Audiometric and Vision Screening
Routine audiometric and vision screening is carried out by three full-time trained audiometrician/vision testers.
Vision screening in schools by the Keystone apparatus is combined with audiometric screening in junior and
secondary schools, and an additional vision screening test alone is given in the last year at school. Combined
testing has not been found to be practicable or time saving in infants' schools.
78