View report page

A total of 481 earmould impressions were
taken by the audiometricians during the year
for use with hearing aids Fifty six Medresco
aids were issued and 273 Medresco aids were
exchanged or replaced Fifty one commercial
hearing aids were bought by local education
authorities during the year Of these 34 aids
were of the post aural variety The Medresco
post aural aid is n ow avai lable to chi Idren
above the age of 14 years This aid is not
however suitable for all types of hearing loss
and some of the children for whom a post
aural aid is recommended benefit more from one
or the commercial post aural aids available at
this time
The children attending the Hanworth and
Isleworth junior training schools were also
screened for a hearing loss by the audio
metricians A total of 23 children were seen It
was not always possible to obtain a satisfactory
audiogram from these children but an assessment
of their response to sound in the free field was
made Any child who appeared to have defective
hearing was referred to the medical officer The
audiometricians also screened these children
for visual defects using the Stycar vision testing
material 132 chi Idren were tested Any child
having defective vision was referred to the
medical officer
This year there has only been one peripatetic
teacher of the deaf on the staff of the clinic and
the number of home visits has inevitably fallen
The teaching activities at the hearing clinic
have continued this year Medical students from
St Bartholomew s Hospital attended for instruction
in the techniques of audiology and groups
of speech therapists health visitors and mid
wives have also attended for clinical demonstrations
Many other visitors from this country and
abroad have also been welcomed at the clinic
In April a one day refresher course was held
which was attended by 25 medical officers
This course was intended for people who had
knowledge of audiology and who were working
clinically in this field In May a three day
course was held for the training of local authority
medical officers in the early detection of
hearing loss and screening techniques In July
the post-graduate students who were attending
the course in developmental paediatrics at the
Institute of Child Health spent an afternoon at
the clinic when Dr Fisch gave a lecture
demonstration Later in the year the local
50
ority medical officers attending the course in
developmental paediatrics organised by the Society
of Medical Officers of Health attended a similar
afternoon lecture demonstration
In October a course was organised by the staff
of the hearing clinic for health visitors Forty nine
health visitors attended from several London
boroughs This number was too large to be
accommodated in the hearing clinic and the course
was therefore held in the assembly hall of the
Heston School for the Deaf This course aimed by
lectures and demonstrations to instruct health
visitors in the early detection of deafness in young
children The role of the health visitor in the
detection of a hearing loss was fully discussed
A working party of which I am a member set up
by the Social Services Committee of the London
Boroughs' Association held a meeting at the
hearing clinic to review the needs of handicapped
chi Idren
Dr Fisch and two audiometricians visited
Wiltshire at the invitation of the rtedical officer of
health to organise a two day course on audiology
for the health visitors of the area This visit was
much enjoyed by the team from Heston
In December a meeting was organised by Dr
Fisch at the hearing clinic to discuss the use and
abuse of hearing aids Papers were read by Dr
Fisch and Mr MC Martin Technical Officers
R.N.I D
A fi Im strip was made in conjunction with
Camera Talks on the testing of hearing of young
children and this has already been shown at
audiology and paediatric meetings
The deaf blind rubella children in the special
unit attached to the Heston School for the Deaf
continued to make progress during the year The
three children in the unit are all severely handicapped
but during the year their outside activities were
considerably increased An offer of weekly lessons
from a local riding school was accepted and were
greatly enjoyed by the children They were also
taken swimming each week and made regular shopping
expeditions
Regular meetings for the parents of the pre-school
children with a hearing loss were organised at the
hearing clinic by the peripatetic teacher
Medical Advisory Unit and Cerebral Palsy Unit
There has been a marked increase in the number of
children under school age referred to the Medical
Advisory Unit during the year A total of 69 pre