SGH Listen and Talk Programme is 20 this year! Since we started in 2001, our team of ENT doctors, Audiologists and Auditory-Verbal Therapists in the Centre for Hearing and Ear Implants have been working closely to provide care for patients with hearing loss. To celebrate our 20th Anniversary and in conjunction with Audiologist/AVT Day on 10th October, we interview some of our Allied Health Professionals. Read the interviews to get to know our AHPs better and learn more about the work that they do at our Centre.

Deepak D’Souza, Senior Principal Audiologist

1. Describe your work as an audiologist/AVT.
   As an Audiologist I attend to the hearing needs of pediatric, adult and elderly patients by recommending and fitting them with hearing aids, Cochlear Implants or accessories like Frequency Modulations systems.


2. Why did you decide to be an audiologist?
   Not many are aware in my family that I have a brother who has special needs. My brother has Down Syndrome, when he was young he had severe delay in his speech and language skills. My parents realized the importance of early intervention and started him on Speech and language therapy at an early age. This inspired my journey as a Speech language therapist and Audiologist later on in life. Today thankfully he is Bilingual and able to communicate his needs thanks to early intervention.


3. What do you like most about your job?
   As an Audiologist you can make a difference by diagnosing the hearing issues early in life and fitting children with appropriate devices like hearing aids, cochlear implants which gives them access to hearing and opens the pathways to their brain. By doing so they are given a chance to be able to catch up with their peers and later on become independent able individuals. I am blessed that I could play a role in numerous patients over the course of my career.


4. What was your most interesting encounter at work?
   Recently I came across a young family with a child who was fitted with hearing aids from outside SGH, I was surprised to find out that the child was under amplified and hence it affected her speech and language progress. Once we rectified that by optimizing her hearing aids, starting her on rehab the child started to hear and talk more.
   Looking back, till date there are about 1000 Auditory Brainstem Implants done worldwide. In 2007 I was involved in switching on Singapore’s first brainstem implant on a teenager, she is now an adult and still using her device. Her surgery, switch on then was most challenging and fascinating in my opinion. This area of brainstem implants is still evolving in the region.


5. What is something that people don’t know about audiologists?
   When I started my audiology journey in early 2000 there were fewer than 40 audiologists then, this number has increased by 3 folds over the past 20 years. Some of the audiologists here have studied in the field of Speech & hearing/Audiology anywhere between 3-4 years (Bachelor’s) or would have undergone a 2 years (Master’s programme) receiving rigorous training in the areas of Paediatric, Vestibular, Cochlear Implants, and Aural Rehabilitation.


6. What is your purpose at work?
   My purpose at work besides the clinical work that am doing is to look after the training needs of Audiologists, supervise the Audiology undergraduates who are posted here in the dept. Besides this I am also involved in training the ENT residents, Medical officers and also some audiology-based research projects.


7. What are you passionate about?
   Besides audiology I have some interests in Smart Home solutions, Self-development and recycling.