Chantal Kassuto Audiology

07/12/2023

Don't Miss Out on Better Hearing!

At Chantal Kassuto Audiology, we care about your hearing health. That's why we're excited to offer you an exclusive special for December 2023 and January 2024! 🎉

Get 10% OFF on Hearing Aids when you book your appointment with us during these two months. It's the perfect opportunity to invest in your hearing and enhance your quality of life.

Why Choose Chantal Kassuto Audiology?
✅ Experienced Audiologists
✅ State-of-the-Art Hearing Solutions
✅ Personalised & Verified Care

Don't wait any longer to improve your hearing. Call us at 072 024 9294 or visit our website to schedule your appointment today. Let's make sure you hear all the beautiful sounds life has to offer!

17/09/2023

New App for Oticon hearing aids 📱🦻

15/09/2023

Understanding Auditory Processing Disorder 🍭🍬🍬

READ THIS POST! I PROMISE YOU WILL UNDERSTAND APD BETTER!!

🌈 Embrace Your Unique Mix of Jelly Beans: Understanding Auditory Therapy for APD 🌈

🌟 Hey everyone! Do you remember my Jelly Bean Poem I posted a few weeks ago? Using the Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) and JELLY BEANS analogy from Dr. Angela Loucks Alexander, let's discuss this further to better understand the complexities of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). 🧠

Imagine your auditory world and neurodiversity world is like a bag of jelly beans 🍬.
Let's picture that four of the different jelly bean flavors represent a different subtype of APD. One flavor is about Decoding, another one with Tolerance Fading Memory, a different flavor relates to Organization, and there's also the Integration flavor– all part of the colorful Auditory Processing Disorder spectrum! The rest of the jelly beans in the bag represent your neurodiversity spectrum🌟

Now, here's the kicker: just like jelly beans, individuals with APD may have their unique combinations. 🌈 Some might have 7 of the wild cherry flavor and 2 of the cotton candy. Others may have 6 of the toasted marshmallows, 2 island punch, and 3 root beers. Each of the 4 APD jelly bean flavors and the quantity you have of them represents their primary APD subtype struggles and the severity of the subtype you may struggle with. Buffalo Model Auditory Therapy is a comprehensive approach to all 4 of the APD jelly bean flavors. And guess what, it's perfectly ok to have a unique one-of-a-kind, mixed bag of 20 other flavors too. Just because you get a peach flavor in your bag does not mean you can't have a wild cherry or toasted marshmallow flavor in your bag as well. I think you get the point.

So, what's Auditory Therapy for APD? 🤔

🐾 Auditory Processing Evaluations are like sorting out your jelly beans! It's a way of approaching APD that recognizes it as a collection of subtypes that influence one another, just like the different jelly beans in your bag. 🍭🍬

Here's how it works:

1️⃣ Recognition: First, we need to recognize and accept the diversity of APD, just like the different jelly beans. It's okay to have multiple subtypes! Most people have more than one flavor.

2️⃣ Sorting: Just as we can sort our jelly beans by flavor, Auditory Processing Therapy helps individuals identify and work on specific APD subtypes in an organized fashion. This helps us understand how they interact and affect our auditory processing world.

3️⃣ Holistic Approach: Much like savoring a mix of jelly beans, Auditory Processing Therapy considers all subtypes of APD to provide a holistic approach to auditory well-being. It takes into account the entire "bag" of auditory experiences.

4️⃣ Support: Reach out to professionals who specialize in Auditory Processing Therapy and loved ones who can help you navigate your unique mix of APD subtypes. They're there to guide you through your auditory journey.

5️⃣ Embrace Diversity: Just as we celebrate the variety of jelly bean flavors, let's embrace the diversity of APD subtypes and neurodiversity. Our differences make us who we are!

Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to APD. We're all unique, just like a bag of jelly beans, and that's what makes us special. 🌈💪

💙 Feel free to reach out if you have questions or need guidance - ListenHEAR is here for you! www.ListenHEAR.net (239)273-2942🌟


🌟

01/09/2023

Happy Spring Day! ☀️🌻

Summer is just around the corner!

Don't let untreated hearing loss keep you from enjoying the sounds of summer.

With the help of hearing aids and guidance from a hearing care professional, you can be part of conversations around you and savor the season's unique sounds.

Here are a few ways that hearing aids could help you get the most out of this special season:

☀️Join in at social events
☀️Appreciate nature's symphony
☀️Enjoy indoor summer activities, too (e.g. watching movies and listening to music)

Click on the link in the post below for more information ☀️

Don’t hesitate to give us a call 📞
072 024 9294

24/04/2023

Protect your hearing 👂

IT IS IMPORTANT TO:
• Get your hearing tested annually,
• Wearing ear plugs when you are being exposed to loud noise,
• Turn down the volume on devices.

Make an appointment today for your annual hearing test.

Contact us on: ckaudiology@gmail.com

Want to read more about auditory fatigue:
https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52807-Hearing-loss-and-listening-fatigue

03/03/2023

3 March 2023
Today is World Hearing Day! 👂

Ear and hearing care for all!

Let’s make it a reality 👂🤍

23/01/2023

Access to sound does not always mean access to language… 👂

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Another great post by Germaine Graham | Speech-Language Pathologist] !!

Germaine Graham | Speech-Language Pathologist] with .repost
・・・
Did you know that there are stages to auditory development? It's true! A person's ability to detect the presence of sound does not automatically mean that they will understand connected speech.

Erber's Auditory/Listening Hierarchy outlines the stages of auditory development as:
🧱 Detection - recognizing the presence or absence of sound
🧱 Discrimination - hearing the difference between sounds, words, or presented patterns.
🧱 Identification - being able to label/name what has been heard
🧱 Comprehension - understanding spoken language

We strongly believe that Deaf children should have full access to language, more specifically a visual/signed language, while they are developing their listening/auditory skills.

Remember, sound ≠ language. Speech ≠ language. Language = Language. Language is the priority!

[ID: A clip art image of an ear is shown with multicolored sound waves beside it. The text, 'I know you hear me!' 'Yes, but there's levels to hearing. I may hear you, but not understand you'. Below the ear, are multicolored numbers corresponding to the sound waves. '1. Detection, 2. Discrimination, 3. Identification, 4. Comprehension]

01/12/2022

Now is a great time to start thinking about how to make the holidays better for your deaf and hard of hearing guests- With 60% of people over 60 having hearing loss and 80% of people over 80 having hearing loss..chances are there's a few people at your holiday get together that can benefit from these!

🛋 Make a designated quiet and cozy room. This one should ideally have the TV off, good lighting, and a relaxing place for people who are tired from the overstimulation to come and relax a bit (carpet, throw blankets, etc). Having quiet activities like a puzzle everyone can work on or photo albums to look through will give people something to do and to talk about.

🍁 Use decorations that double as sound absorbers- soft materials like fabric and textiles are great for reducing reverberation. Use table cloths on main tables and side tables and double up with a runner and cloth placemats and cloth napkins, seats with cushions or blankets hanging on the back of them, felt pumpkins, less hard serving ware on the table during the meal, etc.

👪 Smaller guest list = less background noise, a smaller table (easier to see eachother's faces), and an easier time helping everyone understand that they need to use good communication strategies. You can split up the group into a few tables and put the people with hearing loss in the one with better sound treatment (i.e. lower ceilings, away from the noisy place in the house).

📺 If you have a kid with hearing loss I hope your captions area already on! They help with reading. They also make it so your guests won't have to crank the volume to overcome the kitchen noise.

04/11/2022

Happy Fun Fact Friday! ⭐️

23/08/2022

Classroom noise and APD 💥:

Classroom noise levels are not only detrimental to children who have hearing loss, but for children who have auditory processing disorder too. Hearing speech in noise is particularly difficult for a vast majority of children who have APD.

Preferential seating, teacher education, and improving the signal-to-noise ratio is imperative for providing a supportive and conducive learning environment.

Take a look at the explanation below for further understanding of what happens to the teachers voice during teaching 🗣 and as a result what the children have access to.

The classroom is a noisy place! When you have hearing loss 3 things can make for a much more difficult listening situation- noise, distance, and reverberation. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Average noise in a classroom is 50dB. If the teacher's voice is 65dB and you’re sitting 3ft. away from the teacher, you'll hear and understand well… but no one is that close! And the further you get away from the teacher, the softer the teacher's voice will be and the harder it is to hear and understand over the background noise.

In the back of the class the teacher's voice is 18dB softer so it's reaching the HA or CI microphone at only 47dB. This means the classroom noise is now 3dB LOUDER than the teacher's voice so the signal-to-noise ratio is -3dB.

Ideally you want a +10dB or better signal to noise ratio. To achieve that this student could get closer to the teacher or they could use remote microphone technology which helps to overcome noise, distance, and reverberation by wirelessly transmitting the teacher's voice directly to the hearing device.
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FYI- If you removed all of the other students the ambient noise is still about 35dB in an empty classroom.
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PS- I did not create this original illustration and I'm having a hard time finding the creator!

PPS- last time I posted this a few of you asked for a handout. Make sure you’re subscribed to my Hearing Happy Hour newsletter at www.ListenWithLindsay.com so you will get it straight to your inbox once it’s ready!!

18/08/2022

Are small and almost invisible hearing aids worth it? 🦻

Take a look at this article that explains the pros and cons of wearing small in-the-ear hearing aids that are very discrete and, in some cases, invisible.

Interested in these tiny hearing aids?
Don’t hesitate to reach out 🦻

📞 +27 72 024 9294

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Customised hearing aids are one of the options for choosing a discreet hearing aid that matches the shape of your ear canal.