Turkish student seeks OT support for global brain injury sensory survey.
Turkish student seeks OT support for global brain injury sensory survey.
Patients struggling with many problems after TBI may not readily notice the auditory and vestibular impairments. However, the healthcare professionals who care for them should understand... 
PhD student, Kubra Bolukbas
Kubra Bolukbas came a long way to focus her academic mind on the audiovestibular outcomes of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
She gained her bachelor’s degree in audiology in Türkiye, where she was born, relocated over 2,000 miles to the UK for her advanced audiology master’s at Manchester University, and then moved to Nottingham University, where she is now working on her PhD.
The overriding aim of Kubra’s current work with the university’s hearing sciences team is admirable: to improve the lives of brain injury survivors with balance and hearing difficulties globally.
But she needs expert outside help to get the job done – occupational therapists (OTs) and other healthcare professionals with related TBI experience.
“As a topic, the audiovestibular outcomes of traumatic brain injury are huge,” Kubra explains in a video chat with us.
“And it’s challenging to get the information we need because these patient groups can sometimes really struggle with many disabilities simultaneously, including cognitive, emotional, physiological, and psychological.
“But we aim to understand in detail their hearing loss, hyperacusis, tinnitus or balance disorders.”
TBI-linked sensory symptoms, such as hearing and balance loss, can have wide-ranging effects on a person’s ability to carry out their activities of daily living.
Kubra explains, “For example, if someone has tinnitus after a TBI, it can further adversely affect their quality of life.
“If they have hearing loss and can’t hear their environment, it may be difficult to understand others or even be dangerous.
“Patients with a balance disorder may not want to go out shopping or anywhere alone without someone to support them. So, it’s important to be able to manage these things.”
OTs understand
Kubra’s survey is aimed at healthcare professionals, such as occupational therapists, “because it is they who care for the patients.”
But her findings will also help to ensure other professionals, such as psychologists, are better informed about the impact of hearing and balance challenges on the day-to-day lives of brain injury survivors.
“We want to show the importance of audio and vestibular issues in these patients’ lives,” she says.
“If they can‘t understand other people or converse with their family, friends, or colleagues because of hearing loss, we know it can have psychological and emotional effects such as depression.
They have already had trauma – a TBI – or they have many disabilities. If we don’t support their communication skills, such as hearing, we cannot expect them to progress in their recovery.
Kubra adds, “Patients struggling with many problems after TBI may not easily notice the auditory and vestibular impairments.
“However, the healthcare professionals (HCPs) who care for them should understand their auditory and vestibular conditions and be able to guide patients for necessary referrals to the ENT [ear, nose, throat] specialists and/or audiology department.
“We want to understand in detail the awareness, opinions and experiences of healthcare professionals interested in TBI patients.”
The study excludes ENT specialists and audiologists, Kubra notes, as their audio-vestibular evidence base is well established.
Global poll
To reach as many OTs and other healthcare professionals as possible, Kubra has produced an online survey in English and Turkish. There are 17 closed questions with a selection of responses.
“I designed two versions of the survey because I am bilingual and wanted to reach more participants, not just in Türkiye but around the world because traumatic brain injury is a global problem,” Kubra says.
The survey is part of a wider hearing sciences study which is also looking at audio vestibular links with different types of TBI and other areas of the ear.
But Kubra concedes there is a long way to go to widen understanding, often due to the impact of TBI on individuals and their lives.
In this topic, there are some considerable gaps in knowledge mainly because we need time to perform tests, but the patients often can’t give us that time due to the problems brain injury causes.
Kubra stresses, “For that reason, we are eager to find the maximum number of healthcare professionals to take part in the survey to tell us how these patients’ lives are affected.”
The survey, which has won the thumbs up from the UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF), takes around 15 minutes to complete.
If you would like to take part in supporting Kubra’s research, please find it online here: Healthcare professionals and Audio-vestibular consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury (online surveys.ac. the UK)
Further reading
Find out how our OT helped in another sensory challenge after one woman’s 17-year search for answers to her mental health difficulties ended in a surprise diagnosis of autism...
The senses of some autistic people are over-or under-reactive to stimuli, including those that make us aware of pain, temperature, tand ouch. Here’s how neuro occupational therapy supports them...
Neuro occupational therapy: supporting autistic people. (krysalisconsultancy.co.uk)
