To help people to hear is what an audiologist does on a daily basis.
Yolandi du Plessis, of the centre in 10 Hermes Road, found her passion in this career.
This is a dynamic area of science with new technology being released regularly.
She says because each person’s way of hearing differs, there are hundreds of ways to help restore hearing.
Each client is screened with an audiometer in a soundproof room and a hearing aid is applied to that person’s need.
Because hearing loss is not defined by age, race nor gender, du Plessis has clients from the smallest babies to elderly adults.
As part of her work she also has to assist the person with rehabilitation, as he is suddenly hearing sounds foreign to his life. She explains getting a hearing apparatus, especially for an older person is something very emotional and sometimes frustrating.
It takes some people up to seven years, on average, to see an audiologist about faint hearing, but the longer that a person waits to get help, the more difficult is the rehabilitation.
In the case of children, the rehabilitation process is different. Children getting hearing aids do not have the same rehabilitation problems as older patients because they still have to learn about language and life.
The audiologist assists and teaches parents or caregivers about the hearing aid of the child.
She says no-one is 100% deaf. The first signs of hearing loss are a ringing of, or a strange feeling in the ears, asking people to repeat what they said or when you have to put the radio or TV louder.
Du Plessis said people who are deaf are isolated from the world. This eventually causes depression.
To become an audiologist one needs to enroll for a four-year course at either Wits and the University of Pretoria.
She advises young people who are considering this as a career, to take subjects like biology, mathematics, science and languages like English and Afrikaans in matric.
There are also several other criteria to adhere to before a student may start studies in audiology. These may be obtained on the universities’ websites.
The closing date for next year’s studies is June 30 at both Wits and UP.
