Audiology strikes the right balance at Westmead Hospital

Before Belinda Kwok began learning about audiology, she thought the role was just diagnosing hearing loss and fitting hearing aids. 

In her years working in the industry, for private companies and now in a hospital setting with adults at Westmead, she admits, ‘I've never done that, I've never fitted a hearing aid in my 10 years as an Audiologist.’

This year for World Hearing Day, Belinda has shared insight into her role and how she works with patients. 

Belinda says while her work in the Westmead Audiology Clinic varies, the assessments fall into two key components, hearing and balance function. 

“People don't realise, and I didn't realise until I studied it, that the balance organs are located right next to the hearing organ. Because of their proximity, we also get trained to perform tests that assess balance function,”

Belinda said.

The two main reasons someone may need to see an audiologist like Belinda is either due to hearing loss, or potentially to investigate dizziness.

Belinda and her team are often the first clinician to speak with a patient following the tests and offer them insights into the function of their hearing and balance organs and the next steps in terms of management.

“I think there's a very important role for the diagnostic audiologist, because we will be the first point of telling them about possible options to help them with their hearing or balance loss,”

Belinda said. 

Belinda says while she doesn’t work in aural rehabilitation, she works with the patient to set the expectations around what the next steps of their journey may look like. 

“We can give them the correct information and set them on that expectation and journey first,” Belinda said. 
Belinda says online content can set unrealistic expectations, such as viral videos showing people overwhelmed with emotion when trying on hearing implants for the first time. 

“Implants really do make a big difference to patients' lives, but not everyone's switch on looks like that,” Belinda said. 

“In actual fact, a lot of patients will say it sounds very weird to begin with because it is a different mode of hearing and it takes time to re-learn how to listen with this new device,” Belinda said. 

Belinda says sometimes it’s the more subtle sounds that can surprise someone who hasn’t heard in a long time. 

“When they have it turned in, they'll say, ‘Oh, I can hear paper rustling or my own footsteps’ because that's something they could not hear before because of the extent of their hearing loss,” Belinda said. 

The next area the audiology service is set to diversify in, is an objective hearing test for patients with intellectual disability, noting that a standard hearing test depends upon the patient being able to respond reliably upon hearing a sound, which is often not possible in this patient group.  

“The clinic's come a long way in two years and I'm really thankful to the community support that we've got with all the funding to enable us to provide all the increased services that we now offer,” Belinda said. 
The Audiology clinic at Westmead sees around 40 patients per month when patients are given a referral to her service.

For more details or if you would like to donate to the Audiology Department at Westmead Hospital head to the Westmead Hospital Foundation: Audiology page.