University's Clinic Helps Restore Hearing, Improves Speech

Audiologist Amy Hunter tests Evelyn Youngman's hearing in an audiometric sound booth at the Speech and Hearing Clinic.

October, 2012

Evelyn Youngman has been hard of hearing all of her life. Cochlear implants changed that.

?I can hear things I don?t remember hearing before,? Youngman said. ?I had never heard people walking across the floor. I didn?t know that most doors squeak or grind when opening or closing. I never heard refrigerators and air conditioners running before. I certainly never heard the wind whistling around doors and windows. Now, I can even hear birds singing outside when I am still inside. It is so wonderful to be able to hear all these things.?

Youngman, a retired teacher who lives in Springdale with her husband, Dale, received her first cochlear implant, on the right side, in 2010. That?s also when she met audiologist Amy Hunter.

Hunter attaches the external piece of a
cochlear implant for?Youngman.?

Now a clinical assistant professor of audiology at the University of Arkansas, Hunter ?mapped? Youngman?s first cochlear implant while Hunter was working at a local ear, nose and throat clinic. Mapping is the term for programming a cochlear implant to the specifications and needs of its user. But that comes later.

First, a surgeon places the implant just under the skin behind the ear. A sound processor worn outside the body, behind the ear, captures sounds and converts them into digital code. The sound processor transmits the digitally coded sound through the coil inside it to the implant just under the skin. The implant converts the digitally coded sound to electrical impulses and sends them along an electrode array positioned in the cochlea, which is the spiral shaped inner ear. The implant?s electrodes stimulate the cochlea?s hearing nerve, which sends the impulses to the brain where they are interpreted as sound.

When the new Epley Center for Health Professions opened on campus in January, the University of Arkansas Speech and Hearing Clinic gained an audiology suite with an audiometric sound booth. Hunter has mapped implants for eight patients since the building opened, and the clinic provides follow-up care for another 22 cochlear implant patients. She began the mapping process of Youngman?s left implant on July 16 following the surgical procedure on June 29.

?Since I began mapping cochlear implants seven years ago, the implants have improved considerably,? Hunter said. ?They are more flexible as far as programming. Mrs. Youngman?s device comes with a programmable remote control so she can make adjustments herself.?

Implant Impact

Multiple ear infections in her childhood eventually destroyed all of Youngman?s hearing in her right ear and most in the left. She became an accomplished lip reader and earned bachelor?s and master?s degrees in education from the University of Arkansas. She taught for 10 ? years at Springdale High School and 22 years at Northwest Technical Institute and raised two daughters with her husband, Dale. The couple has six grandchildren.

Before the first implant, Youngman scored 15 percent on a hearing test of her right ear. Afterward, she scored 92 percent. Before the second implant, she scored 19 percent on a hearing test of her left ear.

A person who hears with only one ear can?t localize sound, Hunter said. Youngman was excited by the prospect of being able to tell where a sound is coming from.

?I remember one of my granddaughters saying, ?We?re going to have to watch what we say because Grandma can hear a lot more,?? Youngman said. ?It?s amazing to be able to hear. I hadn?t been to a movie in 35 years, and I?ve taken my grandchildren a couple of times since getting my first implant.?

When a person has hearing in only one ear, it affects where they sit and how they position themselves, Hunter said. Having cochlear implants on both sides will allow Youngman to function in more complex environments.

Cochlear implant patients are encouraged to wear a medical alert bracelet or something else to inform medical personnel that they have the implant. Patients should be aware that having an MRI or some other procedures may interfere with the function of their cochlear implant or damage the device.

Clinic Services

Marilyn McGehee, instructor of communication disorders, directs the Speech and Hearing Clinic, which provides both fee-based services to the community and educational opportunities for students in the communication disorders program.

The program in the College of Education and Health Professions offers a bachelor?s degree in communication disorders and a master?s degree in speech-language pathology. The program requires graduate students to complete 400 hours of clinical experience and undergraduates to complete 25 hours of observation in the clinic setting.

In addition to hours put in at the on-campus clinic, graduate students complete a clinical rotation at a school and a rotation at a medical-practice setting for adults.

Fran Hagstrom, associate?professor of
communication disorders, observes a
therapy session.

?Our students receive a lot of intensive training in our clinic,? McGehee said. ?Not only do they provide direct care to patients, they also learn the paperwork, policies and procedures of our profession.?

Students and the clinicians who supervise them provide assessments, therapy and treatment to both children and adults. The people they help include:

• Those with neurogenic disorders that affect speech, voice, swallowing and language, including stroke, Parkinson?s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and traumatic brain injury. The work is done in close collaboration with physicians and other service providers in the area.
• Those with voice disorders such as vocal cord dysfunction, vocal nodules, vocal fold paralysis and those who have had their larynx removed.
• Those who need augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. One such device allows a patient with a condition such as ALS to record his own voice speaking simple messages and later play those messages to request assistance or express feelings after losing the power of speech. Students and staff consult with schools in Fayetteville, Rogers and Bentonville to complete AAC assessments. An educational team at the schools contributes to recommendations for a child who may benefit from using AAC strategies to communicate and participate in activities with others.
• Children with language delays. Parents may notice a child doesn?t begin speaking at about the same time as siblings or preschool classmates did, McGehee said. The clinic also serves school-age children who have difficulty with speech, language or literacy skills and what she described as ?executive function,? organizing and planning thoughts and speech.
• Children and adults with fluency disorders such as stuttering.

Marilyn McGehee, left, clinic director, tests the
equipment with audiologist?Amy Hunter.

• Those with speech or language disorders from conditions such as cerebral palsy, developmental disabilities, Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorders. ?We see a lot of children with high-functioning autism such as Asperger?s syndrome,? McGehee said. ?They may be having difficulty in school for various reasons and we can help. We also work with them on improving their social skills.?
• Adults in the working world who need vocational rehabilitation services.

Amazing Thing

Youngman said many of the people she?s talked with about her experience don?t know what a cochlear implant is.

?If there was some way to tell people, especially parents of children who can?t hear, I would do it,? she said. ?It is such an amazing thing. I would like for everyone to have it because it is so amazing. I would love for people to know.?

###

Source: http://coehp.uark.edu/colleague/11458.php

capybara duggars peter facinelli bobby rush supreme court justices 19 kids and counting danny o brien