Audiology Jobs Blog

Yes, it seems as if even the EU directive will step in to help prevent this from happening.

It is estimated that around 10 percent of iPod and MP3 users are listening to volumes that could permanently damage their hearing within just five years. The latest report, from the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health risks, claims that music pumped into the ears over just 90 decibels is dangerous. Personal stereos can reach 100 decibels, but the sound that hits in ear headphones, can reach 120.

Interesting…. here is an article extract from the daily mail with more info:

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iPod users could be forced to turn down the volume under new EU directive

By DANIEL MARTIN

iPod users are likely to have the volumes on their personal stereos restricted over fears that the ‘in ear’ headphones are seriously damaging hearing. 

Up to a tenth of users are listening to volumes that could permanently damage their hearing within just five years, an influential scientific committee has warned.

Personal stereos can currently reach 100 decibels, but the sound that hits the eardrum when using ‘in ear’ headphones, can reach 120dB.

Young people are at risk from permanent deafness caused by listening to their iPods at high volumes, a new report shows

And now the latest report, from the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health risks, claims that music pumped into the ears over just 90dB is dangerous.

Meglena Kuneva, the EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner, said: ‘We need to look again at the controls in place, in the light of this scientific advice, to make sure they are fully effective and keep pace with new technology.’

The committee found that more than a million Britons could go deaf because they listen to their music too loud and too long.

Up to 10 per cent of iPod and other MP3 users across Europe are risking deafness if they listen for more than an hour a day for at least five years, it said

That means about 10million could end up sacrificing their hearing simply because they can’t stop listening to music. 

The EU carried out a study into the soaring numbers routinely exposed to high noise volumes through personal music players. 

They say music pumped into the ears above 89 decibels for long periods of time is actually louder than currently allowed in factories. Their report will be welcomed by campaigners for the deaf  -  and the fed-up commuters who have to endure loud music leaking from the earphones of neighbours on packed buses and trains. 

Emma Harrison, head of campaigns at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, said: ‘Decision makers and opinion formers are finally waking up to the hearing loss time bomb threatening many young MP3 users.’ 

She said the institute had started a Don’t Lose the Music campaign, which raises awareness of the dangers of listening to MP3 players too loudly. 

‘Our research revealed that 58 per cent of 16 to 30-year-olds are completely unaware of any risk to their hearing from MP3 players,’ she said. 

‘The announcement that further action is needed is a vindication of this work. 

‘We want to see the Government and industry taking decisive action to save the hearing of future generations.’ 

The committee said users should turn down the volume on their music players, or, if possible, set the machine’s maximum usable volume at a lower level. 

Between 50million and 100million people across the EU are thought to listen to portable music players on a daily basis  -  equivalent to between six and 12 million in Britain. 

EU consumer affairs commissioner Meglena Kuneva said a conference early next year would bring governments, the music industry and consumers together to discuss the way forward. 

‘I am concerned that so many young people who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably,’ she said. 

‘The scientific findings indicate a clear risk and we need to react rapidly. 

‘Most importantly we need to raise consumer awareness. 

‘We need also to look again at the controls in place to make sure they are effective and keep pace with new technology.’

A link to the original post:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1077170/iPod-users-forced-turn-volume-new-EU-directive.html

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Here is quite an interesting article published by Reuters on MRIs and cochlear implants. At the bottom there is a link to the Otolaryngology website.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tests show that certain MRI machines may demagnetize the magnets used in cochlear implants to couple external and implanted components of these hearing devices, according to a report in the December issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.

SOURCE: Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, December 2008.

The link to the original post: Reuters website

To read the more technical stuff click on:

Demagnetization of cochlear implants and temperature changes in 3.0T MRI environment

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It is quite common to receive these interesting images that differ from objective reality. For instance

If that is not enough, here are a few more…

Auditory Illusions

Auditory illusions are not as common…or are they. According to wikipedia: An auditory illusion is an illusion of hearing, the aural equivalent of an optical illusion: the listener hears either sounds which are not present in the stimulus, or “impossible” sounds.
In short, audio illusions highlight areas where the human ear and brain, as organic, makeshift tools, differ from perfect audio receptors (for better or for worse).

Here is quite a few good ones… if you have speakers, headphones will be better.

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A few more great ones from the New Scientist

1 Phantom words (Listen through stereo separated loudspeakers, best placed some distance apart)

This illusion was first demonstrated by Diana Deutsch at the University of California, San Diego. Building on the stereo effect described above, the recording features overlapping sequences of repeating words or phrases, located in different regions of stereo space. As you listen to it, you’ll start to pick out specific phrases. However, none of the phrases are really there. Your brain is constructing them, in a bid to make sense of a meaningless noise. Indeed, you may find that the phrases you hear are related to what’s on your mind - for example, people who are dieting often hear phrases associated with food.

2 Temporal induction of speech

Much of human perception is the result of the brain filling in gaps in the data from our senses. This means that if a part of an audio recording is missing, our brains will often work out what should have been there. In this recording byRichard Warren from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, a spoken sentence is interrupted by a cough. One of the phonemes has actually been completely removed by the cough. But not only do most people hear the complete sentence, they generally find it very difficult to work out which phoneme has been deleted. If the phoneme is replaced by a period of silence, rather than a cough, the deletion is very obvious.

3 Scale illusion (Listen through stereo headphones, or stereo separated loudspeakers, best placed some distance apart)

Another effect first demonstrated by Diana Deutsch, this is an example of our brains “grouping” similar notes together. Two major scales are played: one ascending, one descending. However, the notes alternate from ear to ear - for instance, the right ear hears the first note of one scale, and then the second note of the other (see diagram, top right).

There are several ways in which people perceive these sounds, but the most common is to group the high and low notes together. Rather than hearing the two scales, people hear a descending and re-ascending melody in one ear, and an ascending and descending melody in the other. In other words, the brain reassigns some of the notes to a different ear in order to make a coherent melody. Right-handed people tend to hear the high melody in the right ear, and the low one in the left, while left-handers show a more diverse response.

4 Phantom melodies

Some pieces of music consist of high-speed arpeggios or other repeating patterns, which change only subtly. If they’re played fast enough, the brain picks up on the occasional notes that change, and links them together to form a melody. The melody disappears if the piece is played slowly.

Compare these recordings of Christian Sinding’s Frühlingsrauschen (”Rustle of Spring”). At the higher speed, the changing notes linger in your perception long enough to be linked into a melody, but at the lower speeds they’re too widely separated. (original recording: www.classicalmidi.co.uk / Slow recording courtesy of Karle-Philip Zamor)

Frühlingsrauschen, full speed

Frühlingsrauschen, one-quarter speed

More examples and reading on auditory illusions.

Audio Clips from a Japanese institution.

• the Shepard tone or scale, and the Deutsch tritone paradox
• hearing a missing fundamental frequency, given other parts of the harmonic series
• Various psychoacoustic tricks of lossy Audio compression
• Octave illusion/Deutsch’s High-Low Illusion
• Deutsch’s scale illusion
• Glissando illusion
• Illusory continuity of tones
• McGurk effect
• Beatboxing

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This clip is amazingly old. However I found it most interesting.
It was recorded back in 1987! by Professor Jonathan Ashmore.

If possible listen the clip WITH SOUND.  To view click on: Rock Around The Clock Hair Cell Video

According to the lab:
The movie shows an outer  hair cell which has been patch clamped using a whole cell recording pipette at its basal end. This allows the membrane potential of the cell to be varied. The low frequency envelope of RatC is played into the stimulus input socket of the patch amplifier, with a peak-to-peak amplitude of about 100 mV. The hair cell changes length - but at constant volume - because it has a motor molecule in the membrane along the cell sides which responds to membrane voltage by changing area. For more information about this see the other publications from this lab.

“The worlds most unusual rock video” (Radio Times, August 13, 1987)
You all know the tune. It’s Bill Haley and the Comets in 1956.

The clip was originally made for a BBC programme, “Ear We Go” one Saturday morning in July, 1987 and broadcast in August 1987. I still have the hole in my apparatus to show where the camera went… The Bill Haley tune was out of copyright, so the BBC (never one for Titanic-style expenditure) liked that. There was no performance fee. It has made a number of other guest appearances in programmes since then. Although there have been many imitations, this is the original version!

More about the UCL EAR INSTITUTE
The UCL Ear Institute aims to lead the world in understanding hearing and fighting deafness. From human genetics to cognition, biophysics to cell biology and bench to clinic, our interdisciplinary approach ensures that research at the Ear Institute remains at the cutting edge.

For more details on their mission visit the following link: UCL EAR INSTITUTE

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The first NHS Constitution for England has been created through a collaborative approach of consultation, discussion and research with NHS staff as well as patients, the public and stakeholders.

The NHS Constitution sets out the purpose, principles and values of the NHS, as well as bringing together a number of rights, pledges and responsibilities for all staff and patients.
In short from the BBC:

To read the NHS Constitution and associated documents click here.

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Staying informed and acquiring new skills are key to advancing your audiological career. On the other hand, it is also a great day out. Audiology meetings and conferences gives you new life, it supplies the vitality to keep you upbeat. Having a positive outlook on your work is critical and if your batteries are a bit run down have a look at the menu below.

You may say “This means cash!” Fortunately not always, have a look at what the BAA reported on:

CSO announces Four ‘National Audiology Events’
England’s Chief Scientific Officer, Prof. Sue Hill, has announced four National Audiology Events to take place in Jan/Feb 2009. The events will focus on the Good Practice Guides in Tinnitus, Balance, Paediatrics and Adults & complex hearing needs.

According to their website these events are FREE of charge. They are included below. Lastly, I’m terribly sorry but I do not have links/contacts for all of these events. Here are what I have available (apologies for the layout… it is like some moulds, they just do not fit!).

Above: Audiology Conference, Meetings, Events for 2009

If you want to send me details on meetings, email me here.

“Do you play golf?” Possibly not a standard question you will ask your patient in a first interview and probably not a question you will ask when you see there is a dip at around 4KHz.

Well there is good news to the golfer audiologists and ENTs out there since this may soon be a legitimate question to ask. To learn more on “Do you play golf?” and noise induced hearing loss read on what the Scotsman has to say:

Doctors say golfers using latest generation of titanium drivers should wear earplugs to protect them from noise

Published Date: 04 January 2009

By Jeremy Watson

IT IS Scotland’s other national game and a healthy way to enjoy the great outdoors while demonstrating sporting prowess.

But a hidden hazard of golf has now been uncovered – it could make you deaf.

Those at risk are the players who use a new generation of thin-faced titanium drivers to propel the ball further and make the game easier.

The booming noise the metal club head makes when it strikes the ball was found to have reduced the hearing of a 55-year-old golfer, according to ear specialists who studied the case.

The doctors now suggest that regular users of the titanium clubs should consider earplugs to protect them from the noise, especially on enclosed driving ranges.

The case has been reported in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal. Tests of six titanium clubs against six thicker-faced stainless steel models found that the former all produced greater sound levels.

The authors, who include Dr Malcolm Buchanan, an Edinburgh-trained ear, nose and throat specialist, say: “Our results show that thin-faced titanium drivers may produce sufficient sound to induce temporary or even permanent cochlear damage in susceptible individuals.”

Buchanan, a keen golfer himself, added: “Players should be careful when playing with these thin-faced clubs rather than the thicker-faced versions, as they make a lot more noise. Wearing earplugs is a possibility, although it might be a bit too radical for some.”

But golfing experts warned this approach could cause even greater problems. Andrew Coltart, one of Scotland’s leading professional golfers, said: “If you are wearing earplugs you might not hear the shouts of ‘fore’, be hit by a ball on the head and get brain damage.”

The doctors, based at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, decided to conduct the tests after a 55-year-old golfer attended their clinic with unexplained tinnitus and reduced hearing in his right ear.

He told them he had been playing golf with a King Cobra LD titanium driver three times a week for 18 months and the noise of the club hitting the ball was “like a gun going off”. It had become so unpleasant that he had discarded the club.

An internet search revealed other concerns about the club. “Drives my mates crazy with that distinctive loud BANG sound,” reported one player. “This is not so much a ting but a sonic boom which resonates across the course,” said another.

The doctors found no other physical explanation for the golfer’s hearing loss. He had “no history of prolonged occupational or recreational exposure to loud noises (such as shooting) or exposure to substances that could have had a toxic effect on the nerve structures in his ear”.

Suggesting that the player’s deafness was related to his golfing habit and his use of a particular club, they decided to recruit a professional golfer to hit balls with six of the new types of clubs and six older steel drivers.

The new breed of clubs were designed with a thinner metal face to produce a “trampoline” effect which theoretically hits the ball further but also results in a louder noise. The tests found each of the six titanium clubs – from leading manufacturers such as King Cobra, Callaway, Nike and Mizuno – produced more sound than stainless steel versions. The worst offender was the Ping G10, one of the first thin-faced clubs on the market.

The doctors concluded: “Caution should be exercised by golfers who play regularly with thin-faced titanium drivers to avoid damage to their hearing.”

Golfing experts agreed the new clubs were louder than previous models but doubted they could cause hearing loss. Coltart, a European Tour player with two tournament wins to his credit, said: “There is definitely a difference in sound levels between the two types of clubs, but I would be amazed if they put your hearing in jeopardy.”

Martin Dempster, editor of Bunkered, the Scottish golf magazine, said: “There are some drivers around that do make a louder noise when you play with them than clubs did in the past. You stand on the tee sometimes and get a bit of a fright, but I would be gobsmacked if the noise was making you deaf.”

Golf author and consultant Malcolm Campbell said: “I have been playing golf for 60 years and there’s nothing wrong with my hearing.

“But it is true that some of the modern drivers do make a much louder noise than previous models. Some of them sound like a six pack of coke being dropped onto a concrete floor, and I wouldn’t play with them for that reason.”

Scott Gourlay, the head professional at Craigmillar Golf Club in Edinburgh, agreed earplugs might be an asset if using titanium clubs on the range.

“If you are on a range, which is an enclosed space, and you are hitting lots of balls then there is an echo and that’s where you might get an effect from these big-headed, thin-faced drivers. But it’s not as bad out on the course because the noise dissipates in the open air and you are only hitting a drive every 15 minutes or so.”

King Cobra could not be reached for comment.

Buchanan now plans to carry out further tests among professional golfers to find out if any have suffered hearing loss.

“When I went to the range and used one of these clubs I got tinnitus. I noticed that the professional who did the tests, though, was not affected at all. This suggests he may already be suffering some hearing loss.”

The link to this article: http://news.scotsman.com/health/Doctors-say-golfers-using-.4841691.jp

I found this interesting video on a Titanium Golf Club review.

Asking the golfing question may soon win you a few new golfer friends.

See you on the fairway!

We got quite a few enquiries on Audiology Pay Rates after the recent outrage on Rates of Pay paid by the NHS for staff during the festive season. Unfortunately I do not have good news for you; the NHS just does not see Audiology in the same category as they are seeing the need for Anaesthetics during the Christmas period in A&E departments.

For arguments sake, let us say someone very close to you were in a car accident and need to undergo immediate surgery but there is no anaesthetists around will you be willing to put a cap on the price for the callout of an anaesthetist?
On the other hand, if you were an anaesthetist enjoying dinner with your family and you get an urgent call from the hospital requiring your services will you not put a price to the time and moment lost with your family?

There has to be a balance since there is a lot of leverage on both sides but before we go into debate on how to solve the NHS pay challenges have a look at this perspective. I got it from the Recruitment Consultant magazine:

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation has reacted to the Tory claim of the NHS paying agency staff up to £200 per hour.

Last week the Conservative Party claimed NHS hospitals have been paying agency staff up to almost £200 an hour to cover shifts. 

If true then skilled agency staff could be taking home the equivalent of a £1/3m a year. 

The Tories also alleged that data also showed some agencies were taking large “cuts” in return for supplying workers to the NHS. 

Tom Hadley, external relations director for the REC, which has a healthcare arm, said: “The NHS requires a flexible modern workforce to deliver first class care to patients. 

“As part of this, there is a vital role for agency staff who can be drafted in at the last minute to provide specialist cover, and for the recruitment agencies that provide a 24 hour service to ensure that patients receive care around the clock. 

“From time to time, a highly skilled professional will be called out at very short notice to provide essential care for a patient and may command a high hourly rate.” 

He added: “However, it is misleading to suggest that agency staff routinely receive huge hourly pay rates to cover shifts. 
“The reality is that the NHS tightly controls agency staff spend through its procurement procedures. 

“In addition it is important to note that the rates quoted will include the agency worker’s wages, holiday pay and national insurance contributions as well as a fee to the agency for the service they provide.”

If you would like to contact me please click on this line.

Okay so the bare truth will be something along the lines of: “So what are your skills and time worth?”

Then again, can a price tag be hung around health and medical services to fellow beings? And what about the daily personal reward you receive from making changes to and improving quality of life? I’ll leave this to you to decide, my experience is Audiology is a very grateful and rewarding job.

Permanent Audiology Jobs
This really depends upon your qualification, amount of experience and the band / pay point on which you are appointed. The most up to date table with figures I could find is available to download from the following link: Audiology Pay Rates
Permanent Audiology Pay Rates starts at £12,182 up to £90,607 and should you live in High Cost Area there are additional payments from £867 up to £5,779 to be received.

Locum Audiology Jobs
The same rules applies; your rate of pay will depend upon your qualification and especially on the amount of experience you have to date. The Purchasing and Supply Agency of the NHS aka PASA has some set amounts they specified.  Depending upon the qualification/experience level of the position the rate will vary. Apart from qualification/experience levels these rates are also influenced depending upon if you are working as a paid employee of the agency or working as a contractor.
To keep it simple and rather than referring to MTO1/2/3/4 and Spine Point or Band let us keep to:
Locum Audiologist and Senior Locum Audiologist. (This can really be referred to MTO2 and MTO3 OR Band5 and Band6/7 Audiologists). It is rare to never that there is a need for a MTO1/Band4 or MTO4/Band8 and above Locum Audiologist. So,
Locum Audiologist Jobs expect anything from £18.50 / hour up to £23.50 per hour
Senior Locum Audiologist Jobs expect anything from £24 / hour to £29 per hour, however I would say the majority of rates do not exceed £27.50
I hear some agencies promise rates in the low £30s but then again it may just be a lure to attract candidates.

I hope this has put some light on the issue of Rates Paid to Audiologists for both permanent and locum positions.

If you would like to discuss opportunities please let me know by clicking on this line.