PATIENT INFORMATION
Do refer to the questions below to understand whether you need to plan a visit to your expert doctor –
- Do you need to increase the volume of radio or TV to be able to listen properly in comparison to other family members??
- Do you feel difficulty in clearly understanding others speak while in a noisy environment or with a background noise??
- Do you suffer from earache while traveling??
- Do you have an annoying ‘cooing’ or ringing in your ears??
- If yes, whether this sound in your ear is disturbing your daily routine??
- In the case of children: Does your baby respond to sounds? Is your child lagging in school performance? If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of the questions above it’s time you take the opinion of experts.
For a baby please refer to the chart below to make your observation:
Things to bear in mind when you bring a child for testing
- Children are difficult to test. So, be prepared to stay an entire day for testing. Bring along food/water
- You may need to make the child sleep for testing.
- Sometimes sedation may be needed to make your child sleep, which requires a prescription from your child’s pediatric consultant.
- If you have an older child, explain to him /her that hearing testing is painless and encourage him/her to co-operate.
- You may have to make repeated visits before a diagnosis can be made.
- Do you experience a sensation of rotation on change of head position??
- Do you feel giddiness on sleeping or during a change of position while lying down??
- Do you have dizziness along with abnormal sound in-ear and/ or reduced hearing in any ear??
- Do you have a history of ear discharge from ears along with giddiness?? If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of the questions above it’s time you take the opinion of experts.
Instructions before you come for a vertigo clinic/Videonystagmography [VNG]:-
- Bring all the reports or prescriptions of other consultations as well.
- Take a prior appointment with a Vertigo specialist at the hospital.
- Stop vertigo treatment for at least three days before the day of testing.
- Do you have a history of tobacco chewing?
- Do you get pain in front of your ears while chewing food??
- If yes, does this pain radiate to the side of the neck and shoulder??
- Do you get a clicking sound while opening your mouth??
- Do you have a history of dental extraction??
If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of the questions above it’s time you take the opinion of experts.
- Do you get recurrent running nose and sneezing??
- Are these nasal symptoms seasonal??
- Do your symptoms exacerbate when you go to a particular place or when do a particular work??
- Do you have associated headaches with nasal symptoms??
- Do you have an itching sensation in your throat or nose?? If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of the questions for a long period, it’s time you take the opinion of experts.
- Do you snore loudly??
- Does your snoring disturb your bed partner??
- Do you have uncontrolled diabetes mellitus/ hypertension??
- Do you experience choking in your sleep??
- Do you have any cardiac illness ??
- Do you have a raised Body Mass Index(BMI)??
- Do you have a feeling of fatigue and/ or sleepiness throughout the day?? Please take this test- Epworth Sleepiness scale (ESS) and score yourself to find your sleepiness.
- THE EPWORTH SLEEPINESS SCALE: How likely are you to doze off or fall asleep in the following situations, in contrast to feeling just tired? This refers to your usual way of life in recent times. Even if you have not done some of these things recently try to work out how they would have affected you.
Use the following scale to choose the most appropriate number for each situation:
- Is your daytime sleepiness accompanied by snoring in a day or nighttime?
- CHILD WITH NOISY BREATHING:- Is your child having noisy breathing that increases while sleeping? Does your child have a lesser attention span compared to children of her/his age?? If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of the questions above it’s time you take the opinion of experts.
- Do you have a habit of chewing tobacco or tobacco products and have restricted mouth opening??
- Do you have a burning sensation in your mouth?
- Do you have any growth, swelling, or ulcer in your oral cavity?? If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of the questions above it’s time you take the opinion of experts.
- Do you have any swelling on your neck??
- Are your thyroid hormone levels abnormal??
- Do you feel fatigued always??
- Is there a recent weight gain without any dietary changes?
- Are you losing weight suddenly without any dietary changes??
- Are you experiencing hand tremors?? If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of the questions above it’s time you take the opinion of experts.
- Does your child take pauses/ has prolongation of sound/S or repeats words while speaking??
- Does your child mispronounce words ??
- If your child is having the above problems contact a speech-language pathologist for treatment /therapy. Don’t wait if your child is already four years of age and has these problems. Most of them can be corrected.
- Speech Problems of children with repaired cleft lip and palate: These children have a nasal voice and misarticulation of speech sounds. Early intervention will help improve the quality of their speech.
Voice problems include the complete absence of voice (aphonia), hoarseness, harshness, breathiness, high/low pitched voice, etc. Teachers or professionals who need to talk loudly or excessively and children who scream and talk excessively are prone to voice problems. Do consult the expert for voice correction.
