Hi Guys.

I gave a talk yesterday at the IPEM event at York Racecourse on audiometer calibration and there was one question that came up twice. It was most disturbing because I have had to deal with it myself, and it suggests a serious failure in equipment use by the audiologists.

The problem is that some audiologists - even with years of experience and seniority who should frankly know better - believe that they can swap headphones between audiometers without affecting the calibration.

THIS IS NOT TRUE! Sorry to shout, but audiometers and their phones form a calibrated system, with changes being made to the audiometer to accommodate the phones - whether headphones, bone conductors, inserts, free field or whatever.

Two different EBME teams asked me about this yesterday, and as the consequences of swapping phones - especially bone conductors - could lead to patients having surgery instead of hearing aids prescribed, my manager is reporting this to the MHRA.

If you have any concerns similar, please refer the offenders to the BAA http://theloop.netplan.co.uk/~admin9/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 (British Academy of Audiology) for corrective training...

Another organisation involved in the training and registration/regulation of the Audiologists is http://www.thebsa.org.uk/ the British Society of Audiology.

Between these two organisations, you should get a satisfactory answer to the problem.

All the best