Message from the Editor-in-Chief
Welcome to issue 5 of Canadian Audiologist. This issue is packed with articles ranging from the mysteries of the hearing brain to whether songbirds are hard-wired for sound; from issues in accessibility to noise-induced hearing loss and gene therapy… certainly something for everyone.
This issue’s special focus is on the research being conducted at Dalhousie University in Halifax- no coincidence that this year’s annual Canadian Academy of Audiology conference will also be in Halifax! Each of our Canadian universities have had a chance to overview their work, and now its Dalhousie’s turn. I would like to thank Dr. Steve Aiken for organizing, editing, and ramrodding these contributions.
Dalhousie University articles and brief reviews include: Three short articles on the topics of genes, noise and dementia; Auditory Perception in Songbirds; RECDs Corrected Thresholds in Children; Optical coherence tomography of the middle ear; Scrutiny of new technique ushers in evidence-based changes in practice; The Dalhousie Hearing Aid Assistance Program; and Minimally Invasive In-Vivo Functional Ultrasound Imaging of the Auditory Cortex.
This issue of Canadian Audiologist also has an article that we “borrowed” from our friends at Hearing Review. Dr. Jim Jerger has written an article about ten highlights from the history of Audiology: A top-10 list of events and achievements in audiology during the last 75 years. Interestingly enough the article has the very same name: “Ten Highlights from the …”. We also borrowed an article from ENT and Audiology News in the United Kingdom about whether Hamlet’s father could actually have been killed by his brother pouring poison into his ear canal.
And, Monty McDonald, a chemical engineer and MBA talks about air-born chemical pollutions and how this relates to leaf blowers in his article “How leaf blowers are trying to kill us”. As hearing health care professionals we tend to be concerned about the potential noise effects of leaf blowers. With this article on chemical pollution, we have an ally that can assist us with mitigating the deleterious effects of leaf blowers. Forming alliances with other professionals and groups that seek the same end-goal of limiting the deleterious effects of leaf blowers- but have differing orientations, can provide a stronger voice when it comes to modernizing municipal by-laws such as this.
I wish you all a pleasant fall season and to wear hearing protection (and possibly gas masks) if and when blowing the leaves off of your driveway. I hope to see you all in Halifax at the 22nd annual Canadian Academy of Audiology conference in October.