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Hertfordshire audiologist named hearing professional of the year
Everything you wanted to know about being deaf (but were afraid to ask)
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Hertfordshire audiologist named hearing professional of the year
Hertfordshire hearing specialist Robert Beiny is celebrating after being named the Rayovac Audiologist of the Year for 2011
Robert, who runs the Hearing Healthcare Practice in Harpenden, was chosen as the winner by an independent panel of the hearing industry’s leading figures.
In a closely fought contest, which saw entry numbers grow significantly, Alan Walshaw from Airedale Hospitals received a special commendation for his dedication to audiology that saw him drive over 100 miles on his day off to pick up ear moulds for a patient with profound hearing loss.
The winner, Robert Beiny, was nominated for the award by the mother of a 20-year-old girl who, with his support, has overcome years of problems to fulfil her dream of becoming a flight attendant.
Brenda Clegg’s daughter, Sarah, has a flat bilateral sensori neural (inner ear) hearing loss but was misdiagnosed as a child. Reluctant to wear hearing aids, she suffered from bullying and a lack of confidence as a teenager. Despite completing a travel and tourism course, she gave up her ambition to become a flight attendant at college after being told airlines would not hire someone with hearing aids.
Things changed in December 2010 when she went to see Robert after seeing a newspaper article about a new hearing device called Lyric. While this eventually proved unsuitable, over the next few months Robert worked closely with Sarah – even finding the time to speak to her on Boxing Day - to find a hearing device that she was happy with and which suited her cosmetically.
With a hearing device that works, Sarah’s self-confidence has been transformed and after updating her CV she went for several interviews as a flight attendant, before landing her dream job.
Brenda explains, “Six months ago my daughter was working in a pub, now she’s away from home in the final stages of her flight attendant training and has been hired by a national airline. The metamorphosis in her self confidence is fantastic.
“Robert deserves so much to be Audiologist of the Year and I cannot put into words how much my family owes him. He treated her as a person, not a patient, and told her very early on that she needed to concentrate on the hearing she has and not what she’s lost.”
Robert, who wins the award for the second time, said, “I’d like to thank Brenda and Sarah for their support and in thinking of putting me forward for the award. I’m very happy to win and glad to see Sarah has made so much progress with her new hearing aids and more importantly her life. I wish her every success in the future as a flight attendant.”
The Audiologist of the Year Award is run by Rayovac in association with Audio Infos magazine. Rayovac is the world’s leading manufacturer of hearing aid batteries.
The award aims to recognise professionals who go above and beyond the call of duty for their patients. It is judged by an independent panel of industry experts and all submissions received by the judges are anonymous.
This year’s judging panel comprised: Victoria Adshead (Audio Infos), Gill Lacey (Hearing Dogs), Alan Talbot, head of the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (BSHAA), Tom Davison, a consultant at the RVI Hospital in Newcastle as well as Colin Brinson Pyke and Rob Metcalf (both Rayovac).
Gill Lacey, from Hearing Dogs said: “It’s a fantastic achievement for Robert and, on behalf of the judging panel and the UK’s audiologists I’d like to congratulate him on his success.
“It was incredibly difficult to reach a decision, and a very close contest, as there were so many good stories but Brenda’s story was very moving and demonstrated once again just what a dramatic impact hearing professionals can have on the lives of their patients.”
In addition to Robert and the runner up Alan Walshaw, several other audiologists were highly commended by the judging panel for excellence and dedication. They are:
Sarah Rayner – Boots
Jo Rae - The Hearing Healthcare Practice
Nick Chitty - Oxford Hearing Centre
Paul Scigala - Sound Advice Hearing Centre
Vicki Skeels - The Hearing Care Centre
Allan Graham - Dept of Audiology - The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
Gordon Bruce - Hidden Hearing
As the UK Audiologist of the Year, Robert Beiny is now in the running for the European Audiologist of the Year award. This will be announced at the European Union of Hearing Aid Acousticians Congress in Germany and reported in the December issue of Hearing Times.
For more information visit www.audiologistoftheyear.eu
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Everything you wanted to know about being deaf (but were afraid to ask)
by Charlie Swinbourne
Last month, the Daily Mail journalist Liz Jones wrote a column about deaf life that laid bare her frustration at the many things she sees deafness as stopping her from being able to do. Among other things, she outlined her frustration at not being able to hear actors in the theatre.
Then, shortly after reading Jones’ column, I met someone who had been deaf for some time but didn’t know about subtitles on TV until she found out by accident just a year ago (I was amazed).
What shocked me is that many of the life-savers that some deaf people take for granted are still unknowns to other deaf people. So here are a few of my favourite (deaf) things. You might find just one or two gems here, or possibly even more...
Well first and most importantly of all, where would we be without subtitles on TV? Going through the ‘menu’ option on your digital box or television should lead you to a category called ‘appearance’ (or something similar) where you can select subtitles. If you’re still watching analogue TV, keying in the numbers 888 after pressing the ‘Text’ button should have you reading every word that’s spoken.
Problems hearing actors in the theatre? Well a charity I work for called STAGETEXT (stagetext.org) was set up ten years ago, offering captions (which are a lot like subtitles on television, except with extra information like descriptions of sound effects) on stage. You can see captioned plays all over the country, including many West End productions in London.
If you’re deaf and you use the train a lot, you should be able to get a Disabled Person’s Railcard (disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk) to get you a third off your rail fares. If you live in London you may be eligible for a Freedom Pass, while in the rest of the country you could be eligible for free bus travel. Contact your local council for further details.
Like going to the cinema? if you’re deaf you might be able to get a Cinema Exhibitors’ Association card (ceacard.co.uk/) which gives you two tickets for the price of one at nearly every cinema in the UK. It’s hard to beat that.
If you have trouble using the phone, you could buy a listening device to help make your calls a lot clearer. Go online and look for the Action on Deafness shop or the Connevans shop, both of which have a number of products you can buy to help, whether you’re using a landline or mobile phone.
From the same shops, you can also buy headphones to help you hear the television or specially adapted alarm clocks to wake you up in the morning. My favourite is the Connevans ‘Sonic Bomb’, which describes its vibrating alert as a ‘bone crusher’ (no joke!).
Many deaf people now sign or lipread each other using webcams using a website called Skype.com. Cool deafies have even turned Skype into a verb, often saying “I’ll Skype you” though I should say I’m not quite that far down the line. Yet. If you’d rather stick to written communication in real time, you could use Skype’s instant messenger. Other quality services do exist, but Skype’s the most popular.
Meanwhile, if it’s social networking and microblogging you’re into, well look no further than Facebook and Twitter. All the major deaf organisations and individuals are represented, and deaf people have embraced these sites just as much as their hearing counterparts. It’s a great way of keeping in touch with everything deaf-related, from politics to new technology. And, if you do join Twitter, look me up and follow me. My username’s @charlie_swin.
Good luck and enjoy.
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