Guest Lecturer – Joy Gatten-Blixt

Joy Gatten-Blixt (M.Sc.T), Audiologist and Speech Language Pathologist delivered two lectures to the Audio Production & Engineering students at Metalworks Institute this month.

Gatten-Blixt is a registered audiologist and speech-language pathologist (S-LP) with the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario. Over the last 20 years she has worked in a variety of positions including, Regional Audiologist, School-based S-LP, Clinical Audiologist, Educator, Consultant, and Technical Support Supervisor.

Her involvement with Metalworks Institute started quite accidentally while touring the facility with her oldest son. Her own interest in music stems from performing in musical theatre productions throughout primary and secondary school, and brief professional and recording work during University.

She explained in an interview, students don’t always make the connection between everyday noise and hearing loss. “I always try to bring it back to 'what you do at work can affect the longevity of your work’ ...meaning take care of your work-tools, in this case, your ears/hearing,” said Gatten-Blixt.

During her lecture, Gatten-Blixt explained the anatomy of the ear, and the various pathologies associated with the outer, middle and inner ear. She educated the students about how they can get their hearing tested, the different types of hearing loss and the common causes of permanent hearing loss.

We may not be able to control for hearing loss that occurs from age, but “the one we can control is noise,” said Gatten-Blixt.

She handed out various types of ear plugs so that students could see what’s available. She also introduced them to musician ear plugs which allow the user to decrease the loud and damaging sounds  without plugging the ear, allowing the user a more natural and comfortable sound quality when compared to standard earplugs.

She demonstrated what causes hearing loss, as well. For instance, if background noise is at 100 decibels, over two hours in that environment can cause damage. While this may be temporary damage at first, over time it can become irreversible.

She also introduced what she called an “unfair spelling test.” She played background noises and then recited 10 words, predicting that high-frequency sounds such as “th”, “v”, “f”, “sh” would be lost on the students. “They may hear ten out of ten, but they won’t understand ten out of ten,” said Gatten-Blixt.

This is Gatten-Blixt’s second consecutive year as a guest lecturer at MWI.