Nancy Tye-Murray leaves no stone unturned in her fifth edition of Foundations of Aural Rehabilitation: Children, Adults and Their Family Members. The exhaustive but not exhausting content offers a three-dimensional insight into the process of (re)habilitation in the clinical setting with offerings to both the student and experienced clinician.
The entire length and breadth of topics under the rehab umbrella are pulled together and mercifully placed on its 550 pages in accessible paragraphs, tidy tables and bulleted points; reinforced with clear sidebar definitions, case studies, illustrations, diagrams and quotation boxes. The book assumes almost zero prior knowledge of audiology which meant that I found myself skipping through most of the first 100 pages or so, however I certainly would have appreciated such a plain introduction to these concepts during my studies. What feels really impressive is the comprehensiveness of chapters 4-15 and the resources it provides to be used in real-world situations. Planning a group rehabilitation service? The hour-by-hour programme of the St Louis Psychosocial Hearing Rehabilitation Workshop is detailed on pages 257-60. Counselling parents through a new diagnosis? The stages of grief and tips for supporting them through each stage is set out on pages 360-1, along with cultural considerations later on in the chapter. Not discussing advanced technology with your older patients assuming they’re tech-phobic? There’s a box on page 309 with statistics that will prove otherwise (did you know that baby boomers spend more time online than millennials by 2:1?)
If you’re looking for a great resource to guide your future or current clinical practice, this book is certainly well worth the investment. Not only is it realistic for you to read it cover to cover - something you aren’t always able to say about a textbook - but you’ll be picking it up during your working week and maybe even photocopying and laminating some of its pages for your office!
