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Audiology in Singapore
FACTFILE... Population: 5.3 million Total area: 710km2 Capital: Singapore Prevalence of hearing impairment: 20% of people aged 50-59yrs / 33% of people aged 60-69yrs Average life expectancy: 80.6yrs, third best in Asia
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Author and Correspondence Shijitha Chenicheri
Alexandra Hospital 378 Alexandra Road Singapore E: shijitha.c@gmail.com
Biography Shijitha qualified as an Audiologist in 2009 after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology at All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, India. She later obtained an MSc in Audiology at the University of Manchester in 2010. She then returned to India, working with Widex India as a clinical Audiologist before moving to Singapore in April 2013. She is currently working as an Audiologist for Jurong Health at the Alexandra Hospital, and will soon move to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital which is due to open towards the end of this year.
About Singapore Singapore is a small island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. It is well known for its highly urbanized landscape, high standard of living and the diverse cultural heritage. Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-lingual nation as reflected by its four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Healthcare
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in Singapore is delivered via seven public hospitals, twelve private hospitals, six national specialty centres and numerous primary care and rehabilitation centres. The 2010 Singapore Ministry of Health survey found that one in five of those aged between 50-59 years and one in three aged between 60-69 years have some degree of hearing impairment. History of Audiology in Singapore I am fortunate enough to be working with one of the first Audiologists to practice in Singapore, Mr Yiap Kim Hong, who has been kind enough to share some of his early experiences of working in the field. In the 1960s and 70s, Mr Yiap Kim Hong recalls audiology services being provided by nurses or attendants in the ENT department at Singapore General Hospital (SGH). There were very few audiologists in the country at this time and they were all from overseas, mostly originating from India. By the late 1970s, a high-quality facility had been established at SGH with three audiometry booths, one large paediatric room with free field and Evoked Response Audiometry (ERA) testing facilities and the latest available instruments.
Singapore is a vibrant and bustling city in which to live and work with a wide diversity of activities and places to explore