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Show Free hearing screenings scheduled for this Friday i I I V i . ' x Thanks to a new, highly sophisticated audiometer at American Fork Hospital, patients of all ages can be tested for hearing concerns in ways not possible before. Free - public hearing screenings will be held this Friday, Jan. 15, by appointment. A highly trained audiologist will use the new audiometer to test for hearing concerns in adults and children of any age. The audiometer was secured for American Fork Hospital by the Central Utah Health Care Foundation. Foun-dation. "The foundation was able to purchase the audiometer and two other pieces of equipment through funds donated by IHC employees in Utah County," says Paul Schneiter, CUHCF president. "We were able to purchase this equipment at a fraction of its value, thanks to the generosity of the Osmond brothers, Verl and Kris, who sold us the equipment from their "A Child Shall Speak Foundation." Foun-dation." Kelly Dick, audiologist, explains how the new audiometer will be of benefit to the public this hospital serves. "In the past, American Fork Hospital has used portable equipment equip-ment that allowed for only routine hearing tests, and that could not be used at all with children under six, or with special-need groups such as the mentally retarded," he says. "The new audiometer is much more sophisticated and allows for complete com-plete diagnostic testing in all ages, even infants." Instead of the bulky headphones required by the old equipment, the new audiometer allows the audiologist to present stimuli in a "sound field" - stimuli of known amounts and intensities are projected through special speakers into a sound booth to obtain patient responses. According to Dick, the new audiometer can determine not only the nature and extent of hearing loss, but can also determine possible causes for hearing loss. "In the past, the equipment was not sophisticated enough for many hearing test needs," summarizes Dick. "Now we have the ability to present a greater variety of stimuli to the patient in a greater variety of ways." Free speech screenings will also be available by appointment, where qualified therapists will identify and work with problems such as articulation ar-ticulation disorders, stuttering, cleft palates, voice disorders, stroke-head stroke-head trauma, language delays and others. For more information, or an appointment, call 756-6001, ext. 200. Two-year-old Chase Christensen (in booth) tries out AF Hospital's new audiometer. |
