Many students stroll around campus unknowingly damaging their ears with blaring headphones; there are still those, however, who want to draw attention to aural health.
Today and Saturday, Nov. 3, the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, in conjunction with the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, will offer free hearing screenings for Saint Louis University students and faculty, as well as members of the local community.
This is the second year NSSLHA has held the hearing screenings, which are offered to test the hearing of the participants and spread awareness of the risk of hearing loss.
“A lot of people associate hearing loss just with the elderly, but our generation exposes itself to excessive noise all the time, so we’re at a higher risk,” said Amanda Hettenhausen, head of SLU’s chapter of NSSLHA.
According to the NSSLHA, at least eight million of the 28 million Americans with hearing loss are between the ages of 18 and 44.
“We recommend each student should get screened at least once while they’re here [at SLU],” said Kerri Helms, co-adviser of NSSLHA.
The screening lasts approximately 10 minutes and uses a “quick, painless method to find out if your hearing is in an adequate range for communication,” She said.
“All you have to do is listen to tones and raise your hand when you hear them,” she said.
Based on the outcome of each screening, participants will be told that they passed or will be referred for a more in-depth checkup.
Graduate students in NSSLHA will administer the tests, which will provide them with hands-on experience in audiology.
In addition to the hearing screenings, the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders offers a full-service audiology clinic that provides hearing evaluations and prescribes custom hearing devices and hearing protection.
The hearing screenings will be administered today from 9 to 11 a.m. and 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., as well as Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic in McGannon Hall, which is located on the western side of the Frost Campus on Lindell Boulevard. near the Humanities Building, To schedule an appointment, call 977-3381 or e-mail [email protected].
