Glorified Optometrists

July 9, 2006

I am down on audiologists at the moment. I wish I could take my

daughter to an ENT who also specialized in audiology (i.e., the hearing

doctor equivalent to an Ophthalmologist). I'm in California and have

taken my daughter to what I am told are the " best " audiologist around

(e.g., at both House Ear and UCLA). And frankly, I am frightened by

the audiologists I have encountered. Each have come up with different

results, albeit small diffs. And they all seem behind on the latest in

hearing instrument technologies.

Is there a pedi audi or ENT/Audi out there (in the USA or abroad) that

is on top of their game? So much of the profession seems to based on

best guesses.

July 11, 2006

We have seen some pretty stupid doctors over the years, including the

pediatric audi/ENT (he is both!) who was so stupid that he booth tested our son

without averting his face. At the time, we were just discovering Ian's hearing

loss, so I'd never seen a booth test done before. I had no idea that they

needed to avoid letting their faces show -- I had no idea my son could lip

read!

That idiot cost us a year because we went with his diagnosis of Ian's loss.

He said it was 10-15 dbs. It was 35! The boy lip read his way through 2 booth

tests -- that man is an, un, ... idiot (but using more choice words in my

head).

We saw an audiologist at Montefiore -- supposedly one of the best hospitals

around, who did not know what Carhart's notch was (something peculiar to

interpreting the results for a conductive hearing loss) and as a results gave a

very ill-informed interpretation of Ian's audiogram. In that case, (the second

time it had happened) I took the new audiogram, set them side-by-side with

the old ones and explained it to the ENT.

Doctors are just like the rest of us. Some are up-to-date, some are close. I

think a lot of the diagnosing our kids is interpretive (another word for

educated guesswork) soi you have to find one you trust and whose opinion you

respect.

We have seen at least 5 different audiologists and keep going back to Dr.

Rosenblatt -- who was the 2nd (maybe 3rd) one we saw. I went back to him because

I found he was the one I trusted and Ian liked him and was comfortable with

him.

Don't give up, just keep looking.

Best -- Jill

July 11, 2006

Did you see at UCLA?

Also, if you can find a Cathy Miceli anywhere...she worked both at

and UCLA...she was Hayley's audiologist at UCLA and left -

she lives in Pasadena. She is very good with children.

There were two audiologists who started a practice specializing in

children in Thousand Oaks, but I understand that practice closed

some time ago. One was named Eleanor , and I just googled her

and she presents (or is a teacher of audiology) but I do not know if

she continues to practice. Maybe you can find her in So Cal.

>

> I am down on audiologists at the moment. I wish I could take my

> daughter to an ENT who also specialized in audiology (i.e., the

hearing

> doctor equivalent to an Ophthalmologist). I'm in California and

have

> taken my daughter to what I am told are the " best " audiologist

around

> (e.g., at both House Ear and UCLA). And frankly, I am frightened

by

> the audiologists I have encountered. Each have come up with

different

> results, albeit small diffs. And they all seem behind on the

latest in

> hearing instrument technologies.

>

> Is there a pedi audi or ENT/Audi out there (in the USA or abroad)

that

> is on top of their game? So much of the profession seems to based

on

> best guesses.

>

July 11, 2006

> I am down on audiologists at the moment. I wish I could take my

> daughter to an ENT who also specialized in audiology (i.e., the

> hearing

> doctor equivalent to an Ophthalmologist). I'm in California and have

> taken my daughter to what I am told are the " best " audiologist around

> (e.g., at both House Ear and UCLA). And frankly, I am frightened by

> the audiologists I have encountered. Each have come up with different

> results, albeit small diffs. And they all seem behind on the latest

> in

> hearing instrument technologies.

>

> Is there a pedi audi or ENT/Audi out there (in the USA or abroad)

> that

> is on top of their game? So much of the profession seems to based on

> best guesses.

>

I know that I love our audiologist. So far I have not had any issues

with her. She seems to be very knowledgeable. She does a variety of

tests on our daughter and continues to test until she is confident with

the results. She has brand new equipment in the booth and is quick to

quit when she sees my daughter has quit instead of trying to read into

what she is doing. (My daughter is 19 months old.)

She has some background in speech because shestarted out studying to be

a speech therapist, but liked the more scientific side of things.

My issue is the opposite of yours. I cannot find an ENT I really trust.

They don't seem to know enough about kids with hearing loss.

in Manassas, VA

July 11, 2006

>

> I am down on audiologists at the moment. I wish I could take my

> daughter to an ENT who also specialized in audiology (i.e., the hearing

> doctor equivalent to an Ophthalmologist). I'm in California and have

> taken my daughter to what I am told are the " best " audiologist around

> (e.g., at both House Ear and UCLA). And frankly, I am frightened by

> the audiologists I have encountered. Each have come up with different

> results, albeit small diffs. And they all seem behind on the latest in

> hearing instrument technologies.

>

> Is there a pedi audi or ENT/Audi out there (in the USA or abroad) that

> is on top of their game? So much of the profession seems to based on

> best guesses.

>

Whenever you get tested, there is always a margin of error involved.

If the differences are small, it doesn't necessarily mean the audis

don't know what their doing. After saying that, it is frustrating

that the booth testing is so subjective and open to the interpretation

of the audi. I lived in Santa Cruz for a few years and I really liked

the audi we saw there. I didn't realize how good she was till we

moved to Connecticut. Still haven't found anyone as good here yet,

and we've been to a few here, including Yale University. She was very

thorough and really took the time to talk to us and explain things.

Good luck in your search.

Cheryl

July 11, 2006

Yeah, we've definitely kissed some toads that didn't turn into princes

either! Our current situation is excellent - we have a wonderful

pediatric ENT and audiologist. I'm grateful for both of them every day!

I would say that to a degree, I have some sympathy for audiologists and

what they're doing. I manage a divisional computing support office at

Dartmouth College. We have a list of " supported hardware and software "

and 80% of what we do lies in that range. But we are expected to know

everything about computers - all the time I'm asked about using xyz

email program (that we don't support) that they're using at home with

xyz broadband wireless and the bottom line is - I just don't know the

answer. Can I find out - sure and I often do (my mantra seems to be " I

don't know but I can find out " ). I'm sure that audiologists have a

comfort zone as well with regard to equipment, etc. And audiological

testing is very subjective - there are so many variables including how

the child feels that particular day - so testing variability happens.

That's why it's good to FIND a good audiologist. The more your child

tests with the same person, I think the more consistent the results.

Our boys' first audiologist was not a pediatric audiologist - there came

a time when we needed someone with skills she didn't have (or perhaps

didn't want to learn). That was very painful - we live in a small,

rural area so the new audiologist was in the same practice. I'm glad I

did what I did though. Our first audiologist was very good with hearing

aids but not terribly open to new technologies. I remember asking her

one time when my guys were young about Widex Senso hearing aids (since

I'd heard so much about them from list-mates here) and her response was

" Oh - they rely on a proprietary algorithm " and I'm thinking " and I care

because... " So I think experience with kids and a willingness to learn

are key...

Barbara

JillcWood@... wrote:

> We have seen some pretty stupid doctors over the years, including the

> pediatric audi/ENT (he is both!) who was so stupid that he booth tested our

son

> without averting his face. At the time, we were just discovering Ian's

hearing

> loss, so I'd never seen a booth test done before. I had no idea that they

> needed to avoid letting their faces show -- I had no idea my son could lip

read!

> That idiot cost us a year because we went with his diagnosis of Ian's loss.

> He said it was 10-15 dbs. It was 35! The boy lip read his way through 2

booth

> tests -- that man is an, un, ... idiot (but using more choice words in my

> head).

>

> We saw an audiologist at Montefiore -- supposedly one of the best hospitals

> around, who did not know what Carhart's notch was (something peculiar to

> interpreting the results for a conductive hearing loss) and as a results gave

a

> very ill-informed interpretation of Ian's audiogram. In that case, (the

second

> time it had happened) I took the new audiogram, set them side-by-side with

> the old ones and explained it to the ENT.

>

> Doctors are just like the rest of us. Some are up-to-date, some are close. I

> think a lot of the diagnosing our kids is interpretive (another word for

> educated guesswork) soi you have to find one you trust and whose opinion you

> respect.

>

> We have seen at least 5 different audiologists and keep going back to Dr.

> Rosenblatt -- who was the 2nd (maybe 3rd) one we saw. I went back to him

because

> I found he was the one I trusted and Ian liked him and was comfortable with

> him.

>

> Don't give up, just keep looking.

>

> Best -- Jill

>

July 11, 2006

,

After much trial and error, we found good audiologists at Boston

Children's Hospital. However, because we live in another state, this

made hearing aid service difficult. We eventually resolved this by

finding a great local hearing aid provider who is an okay audiologist,

in my opinion. Because my son is only tested twice a year, it's not so

difficult to travel such a distance for a great audiologist who passes

on all the relevant information to the hearing aid provider.

Re: Glorified Optometrists

>

> I am down on audiologists at the moment. I wish I could take my

> daughter to an ENT who also specialized in audiology (i.e., the

hearing

> doctor equivalent to an Ophthalmologist). I'm in California and have

> taken my daughter to what I am told are the " best " audiologist

around

> (e.g., at both House Ear and UCLA). And frankly, I am frightened by

> the audiologists I have encountered. Each have come up with

different

> results, albeit small diffs. And they all seem behind on the latest

in