On the 8th of March 2020, the AOEMM organised a Technical Update (TU36) on Occupational Health Loss and Audiometry. The workshop was held at the AC Hotel Kuala Lumpur, formerly known as Hotel Vistana.
This one-day workshop was attended by 48 Occupational Health Practitioners, consisting of Occupational Health Physicians and Doctors (OHPs and OHDs), Occupational Health Nurses (OHNs), Medical Assistants and Audiometry Technicians.
The workshop consisted of lectures in the morning, followed by case discussions and a practical audiometry session in a mobile audiometry booth.
The following topics were presented during the morning session by experienced and learned speakers:
- Updates on Noise Exposure Regulations 2019 by Dr Santhanamohan Nagesperam, Head of Occupational Health Section, DOSH Kuala Lumpur
- Noise Risk Assessment – Process and Interpretation by En. Yurizman bin Jamil, DOSH Perak
- Overview of Audiometry in Clinical Practice by Dr Nur Shasa Ain Abdul Aziz, Head Audiologist, Eartistic Hearing and Balance Centre.
- Evaluating the Worker with Suspected Occupational NIHL, Audiogram Interpretation in Occupational Health by Assoc Prof Dr Ailin Razali, Head of Audiology Unit, ORL-HNS Department, Kulliyah of Medicine, International Islamic University of Malaysia
- Overview of Hearing Conservation Programme by Prof. Krishna Gopal Rampal, Professor of Community and Occupational Medicine, Cyberjaya University of Medical Sciences
After the lunch break, participants were divided into two groups, for the Case Discussions and Practical Sessions respectively. After 1 ½ hours, the two groups swapped sessions.
The Case Discussion session was facilitated by Assoc. Prof Dr Ailin and Prof. Krishna Gopal Rampal, during which participants had a chance to discuss audiometry interpretations, diagnosis and managements of cases commonly seen in Occupational Health practice.
The Practical Session for audiometry was facilitated by Dr Nur Shasa in the mobile audiometry booth, which was parked at the external car park of the hotel. Participants were able to experience first-hand the process of conducting and also undergoing audiometry testing in a mobile booth, for which many of them had never had a chance to enter before. However unfortunately due to rain, the practical session had to be shifted indoors for the second group, whereby the audiometers were shifted into another seminar room and the practical session continued indoors.
The workshop ended at 5.30pm with closing remarks by Dr Sathya Subramaniam, AOEMM Council Member and participants were presented with a Certificate of Attendance each.