Any Hearing Impaired Medical Students?

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bluerose786

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Hey....I was wondering if there are any hearing impaired medical students on SDN? If so, can you please send me a PM or reply this post. I wanted to discuss accommodations/services that hearing impaired students may need/use in medical school. I am starting medical school in two weeks, and I have a good idea of what I may need, but I still wanted to talk with others in the same situation. Have a good day!

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bluerose786 said:
Hey....I was wondering if there are any hearing impaired medical students on SDN? If so, can you please send me a PM or reply this post. I wanted to discuss accommodations/services that hearing impaired students may need/use in medical school. I am starting medical school in two weeks, and I have a good idea of what I may need, but I still wanted to talk with others in the same situation. Have a good day!

Would a hearing impaired professor help??
I went to school at DMU in 1987 and was severely hearing impaired then and am deaf now( with a fairly recent cochlear implant). I am at UMDNJ-SOM.
Then there was little assistance other than sitting in the front of the room, using notepool/notetaking services and asking other classmates if I thought i didn't get something in class.
There are many more resources available now, but YOU have to ask for them. Be proactive. Go to the academic affairs office and let them know you are hearing impaired. Let know what type of assitance you require, be it a sign language interpreter or are just sitting in front of the room. You may qualify for extra time on exams. But the main thing is to talk to them. They will do everything they can to help. Clinical years may be more difficult. There is urgery and the ever dreaded face masks and patients who mumble and very noisy hospital environments. A digital pager is a must and I love the blackberry style pagers.
Any questions ? let me know I am always happy to help.
 
My dear friend at VCOM was given a little i guess it is an amplifier. She wears earphones and it is tuned directly into the profs microphones. That seems to really been able to make it easier for her to hear what is being said in lecture.
 
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Are there any qualifications for being hearing impaired?
 
harrypotter said:
Are there any qualifications for being hearing impaired?

Not quite sure what you mean about "qualifications for being hearing impaired"?

If you mean the criteria to be classified hearing impaired, you need to check with a qualified audiologist. I only know that my audiogram showed dropoffs in sound levels on audiograms from the time I was 6 years old. At that time( in the 60's they classified me as "deaf" and mentally impaired....wanna guess that the criteria have changed a bit since then?? ..and that the recommendation to place me in a mental institution was pretty extreme??

If you are having problems with hearing you need to be evaluated by a qualified audiologist after a medical exmaination by an ENT to make sure there is no medical reason that can be treated either by surgery or drugs( some hearing disorders are actually caused by autoimmune disease and can be treated by drugs such as methotrexate).

So let us know what you mean and i can elucidate on this in more detail

:cool:
 
Hi DermopathDO,
Thanks for your response. I did mean "criteria" rather than qualifications. :) I have lost s lot of hearing in my left ear. My right ear is fine but I have trouble in situations where there is a lot of ambient noise and have been getting worried on how my loss of hearing will affect me in med school and beyond.

Glad your parents didn't put you in a mental institution! :)
 
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