Cookie-bite Audiogram

A previous patient returned to have his hearing aid programmed due to a significant increase in hearing loss from his last evaluation. His audiogram was an obvious cookie bite that reached to ~70 dB at the lowest point. He has one hearing aid, CIC, in his left ear. While programming the hearing aid to fit his audiogram, I had problems getting enough gain without having feedback. The knee-point was increased to allow more soft sounds. This seemed to be the solution.

Since this patient has an unusual progressive hearing loss, I would assume that it is genetic. He was advised to see a physician for further testing. In the article by Steinberg et al., parents are asked their views of genetics and hearing loss after their child was diagnosed with a loss. I thought this was a good article because it covers what our patients or family members of our patients think about audiologists and ways to improve the diagnosis process. For example, the audiologist should treat every patient as an individual. We must understand that everyone will have different emotions to the same news. This article is alot of review from pediatrics but is narrowed down to just genetic hearing loss and genetic testing.

Steinberg et al. (2007). Parental Narratives of Genetic Testing
for Hearing Loss: Audiologic Implications
for Clinical Work With Children and Families. American Journal of Audiology, 16, 57-67.

http://web.ebscohost.com.www.libproxy.wvu.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=1&hid=106&sid=0b9a37fc-d364-4dcd-858c-a3f23c0342e7%40sessionmgr104