New!
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
This SIG 7 Perspectives course includes two articles. The first article examines a new pediatric speech in noise screener that can be used as an app, and the second article looks at quality-of-life outcomes after cochlear implantation.
New!
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
This SIG 8 activity summarizes the existing knowledge regarding auditory and
nonauditory health outcomes of roadway traffic noise. Sources of roadway noise,
theorized impacts on the auditory system, systems of measurement, and proposed
policy and public health solutions are reviewed. The authors describe how audiologists
fit within broader public health efforts to address noise exposure in the population.
New!
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common and pervasive virus, and undiagnosed cases can have a range of impacts on children. This on demand webinar will discuss the myths and facts about congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) and the key role educational audiologists play in recognizing the connections between student challenges and cCMV. The presenter will also discuss the modes of transmission of CMV and necessary precautions.
New!
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
The auditory brainstem response (ABR) can be elicited by broadband stimuli such as the
click and chirp. Differences in the click- and chirp-evoked ABR have been extensively
described using subjective analyses. The aim of the current research included in this
SIG 6 activity is to determine if subjectively observed differences between the click- and
chirp-evoked ABR are also represented in objective signal-to-noise ratio measurements
obtained from these responses at different stimulus intensities and sweep counts.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection ranks among the leading causes of hearing loss in children. This on demand webinar will explore the characteristics of cCMV and how it affects hearing, cognition, and movement as well as strategies for clinical care, advocacy, and public health as it relates to cCMV.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Early childhood is a critical period for auditory, language, and cognitive development, and early identification of permanent hearing loss provides the opportunity for children to receive appropriate and timely intervention and educational services. When children are identified late, they are at increased risk of permanent speech, language, and educational delays. This on demand webinar will discuss the prevalence of late-identified hearing loss in young children, opportunities to identify hearing problems, and stakeholder actions needed to support child development.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
This SIG 9 Perspectives course includes three articles from a forum on pediatric hearing health care disparities. The articles discuss barriers to follow-up in Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs; systematic evaluation of family barriers to care; and the principles and implementation of trauma-informed care in pediatric hearing health care.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Medical professionals who use hearing aids can face challenges when they need to perform auscultation (listening to sounds from various organs, most often with a stethoscope) as part of their job. While the options may not seem straightforward, audiologists can play a key role in helping these medical professionals find an amplified stethoscope solution. This on demand webinar will discuss key considerations, potential options, and practical steps for helping medical professionals with hearing loss obtain the best solution.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
In sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) environments, hearing aid features such as Bluetooth and bidirectional microphones—which allow seamless communication between hearing aids and communication devices—are considered security risks. This on demand webinar will address considerations for hearing aids for patients who work in secure locations as well as share strategies currently being used by providers within the National Capital Region.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
Ototoxic medications and chemical agents in the workplace can put individuals' hearing
and vestibular health at risk for permanent injury. Proactive ototoxicity management
(OtoM) strategies aim to minimize exposure, avoid onset of symptoms, provide ongoing
monitoring, and manage auditory and vestibular changes as the clinical needs of the
patient evolve. During a 2021 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Special
Interest Groups Open House, members of the International Ototoxicity Management
Group discussed how best to integrate OtoM into routine clinical practice, what tools to
use, and what special considerations need to be understood to best support patients and
their families. Here, we have summarized their viewpoints to encourage widespread
adoption of improved OtoM services for at-risk individuals. The field of audiology needs
to move to a place where we better understand the full extent of ototoxicity and can
agree on expanding minimum guidelines that can be implemented more universally to
mitigate, detect, and manage the damage from ototoxic exposures. Only recently has
our field seen a therapeutic drug that can protect against ototoxicity; however, the
population served is restricted only to children receiving treatment for nonmetastatic
carcinoma. This is hopefully just the beginning of future therapeutic interventions to
come, but, in the meantime, ototoxicity resulting from other medications in different
patient populations and chemical agents persists.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
These SIG 9 articles point to the importance of continued research in listening, literacy, and paternal linguistic input for children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH).
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
This on demand webinar discusses evaluation and treatment strategies for adults with self-perceived hearing concerns after a head injury, despite normal (or near normal) audiometric thresholds, with a focus on veterans. The webinar reviews comorbid conditions associated with self-perceived hearing difficulties and how treatment of the comorbidities can improve self-perceived hearing ability. The presenter discusses the current gaps and debates in the literature to highlight questions that need further exploration to provide the best, evidence-based hearing health care.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Audiologists play a vital role in the evaluation and management of individuals who have experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI). This on demand webinar discusses the special considerations for testing and managing auditory and vestibular concerns of adult patients with TBI. The speakers discuss comprehensive audiometry, auditory processing, and vestibular testing as well as share strategies for working with adults with TBI and resources you can pass on to your patients.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
What is the audiologist's role in providing care for children and adolescents who have experienced concussion/mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)? This on demand webinar discusses advanced testing of the central auditory and vestibular pathways for young people with concussion/mTBI as well as those with post-concussion syndrome. Whether you have equipment and are ready to start an mTBI protocol in your clinic or you want to learn more about the nature of the symptoms of mTBI, this course provides the tools to help you assist your pediatric patients.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
As a step toward developing an electrophysiologic method for validating the speech feature discrimination benefits of amplification, the article in this SIG 6 activity evaluates the effect of stimulus level and amplification on the acoustic change complex in adults with sensorineural hearing loss.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
In the rising digital era, and especially since the pandemic, implementation of telehealth
and provision of auditory rehabilitation (AR) using digital platforms have notably
increased. This has changed the outlook of service provision by audiologists and
speech-language pathologists alike. Digital platforms have the potential to positively
impact AR practices by improving accessibility of rehabilitation services as well as by
facilitating a more effective way to share resources with both professionals and end
users. This SIG 7 activity includes two articles about the accessibility and effectiveness
of digital platforms to provide AR services for both adults and children with hearing
difficulties. The first article discusses the differences in the distribution strategy, users’
experience, and satisfaction for two digital platforms (a static website and an active blog)
offering AR materials for professionals. Their study concludes that social media–focused
active distribution is effective because it results in more total traffic, a greater number of
users, more frequent access, and an overall high level of satisfaction with the quality of
information and resources. The second article discusses the details of a Zoom-based
telepractice initial evaluation protocol used by speech-language pathologists serving
children who are hard of hearing and their families. This clinical protocol was designed to
synchronously share resources and questionnaires with family members of children who
are hard of hearing. Authors suggest that providing AR services through telepractice
facilitates high-quality diagnostics and counseling to the same extent as that of in-person
diagnostic sessions.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
These three articles center on aspects of audiology and speech-language pathology providers in pediatric hearing loss.
First, “eHealth Coaching: Counseling Characteristics of Coaches Used With Parents” centers on identifying clinician communication behaviors and missed opportunities during an eHealth intervention. Themes were identified within each category. Trends included greater use of close-ended questions over open-ended questions, frequent responses to parent emotions, and engagement in a shared process through providing information and exploring progress on parent goals. Missed opportunities occurred within each category. Coaches' communication behaviors demonstrated support for parent learning that was positively received. Joint planning to address parent challenges was a missed opportunity to support parent behavior changes regarding hearing-aid routines.
The aim of “Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Auditory–Verbal Certification: Self-Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Inform Change” was to explore the professional's viewpoint on the path to the Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS) certification. There were 295 participants from different parts of the world: certified LSLSs, mentees pursuing certification, and professionals interested in certification. The study addressed motivation, self-perceived gains, challenges, and barriers in an international cohort. The purpose of the study was to guide future changes within the certification system. Several indicators pointed to the need for more awareness of significant gains LSLS certification can bring to professionals. There is also a need to address, minimize, and overcome perceived barriers in the process. Similarly, research is warranted to explore obtaining LSLS certification outside English-speaking countries and with a larger, more population-based sample.
In the closing article, “Comfort Levels of Providers Serving Children Who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing: Discrepancies and Opportunities,” Blaiser and Mahshie discuss that while best practice outlines specific skills and expertise from highly qualified providers, in reality, many lack confidence related to hearing technology and resources related to serving children who are deaf/hard of hearing (DHH). The study surveyed 459 professionals in ASHA serving children who are DHH. The intent was to compare differences in confidence, training, and using resources between providers who have a self-selected interest in working with children who are DHH (membership in SIG 9) and those who serve children who are DHH and are not part of the hearing-related SIG. The results indicate that there is limited provider confidence in working with this population. These conclusions provide graduate training programs opportunities to explore provision of more intensive, comprehensive experience to better serve children who are DHH.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
The article in this SIG 6 activity focuses on the audiologic variations seen among patients undergoing the same type of ototoxic drug treatment (cisplatin). Results show a large amount of audiologic outcome variability among the two patients examined, despite similar demographic factors, drug treatments, and types of cancer. Factors relating to ototoxic susceptibility are discussed, and the importance of otoxicity monitoring programs for early detection of audiologic change is highlighted.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
These SIG 7 Perspectives articles focus on auditory rehabilitation (AR) for adults with cochlear implants. While the benefits of AR in the population are recognized in the literature, service-delivery models are variable, and there is no gold standard approach to developing and implementing a comprehensive AR program. Glade and colleagues provide an overview of clinical models currently being used for the provision of AR for adults with cochlear implants from nine clinics across the country. The article highlights the importance of interprofessional practice in AR and outlines the roles of professionals included on care teams. There is a discussion about barriers to successful implementation of AR programs, including distance to services, and recommendations for potential solutions, such as teletherapy. In the second article, Mosley describes the process of creating and implementing a comprehensive teleaudiology AR program for older adults who use cochlear implants at the University of South Alabama Speech & Hearing Center.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
The first article in this SIG 18 activity investigates the applications speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists used most frequently during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also discusses the main obstacles to providing speech, language, and hearing services through telepractice. Through the international distribution of an electronic survey, a total of 1,466 surveys from SLPs and audiologists from 40 countries were used for the analysis.
The second article discusses the Auditory Verbal UK's training program for prospective listening and spoken language specialist certified auditory verbal therapists delivered globally via telepractice. The article explores, from a global perspective, audiology and early intervention services and perspectives regarding telepractice.
The third article explores parents' and therapists' views of the benefits and challenges of telepractice for early intervention for children who are deaf or hard of hearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through survey and analysis, the article probes the views of parents, Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Certified Auditory Verbal Therapists in using telepractice to deliver auditory verbal sessions.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
This trio of SIG 9 articles provides the reader with three diversely focused topics related to pediatric hearing and hearing disorders. These range from a review of barriers to equity in pediatric hearing health care, to students’ perspectives on preservice education about cued speech, and then how practitioners measure receptive and expressive American Sign Language (ASL).
The review, “Barriers to Equity in Pediatric Hearing Health Care: A Review of the Evidence,” explores data to suggest that hearing health care disparities constitute a major factor in loss to follow-up or documentation for children going through the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention process. Underlying disparities are multifactorial and result in delayed care and suboptimal developmental outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
“ASL Assessment in Practice: Assessing American Sign Language Across Clinical Settings” discusses exploratory research to investigate what assessment tools professionals use in measuring receptive and expressive ASL. Conclusions indicate that there is variable access and knowledge for appropriate assessment measures in ASL.
“The Effect of a Graduate Course in Cued Speech on Students' Perspectives: A Pilot Study” is a pilot study investigating the beliefs and attitudes in Deaf Education related to a course on cued speech. The investigation revealed that a single course in the approach could influence student perspectives on cued speech and other Deaf
Education instructional approaches.
Best Seller
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
For clinical audiologists and hearing health care professionals, the older "watch and wait" approach to working with children with unilateral or mild hearing loss has evolved. More recent research and professional experience have shown that providing supports and management strategies similar to those used with children who have bilateral hearing loss results in improved outcomes. This webinar outlines current approaches to managing unilateral and mild hearing loss in children in schools and clinical settings.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
In “Coupling Hearing Health With Community-Based Group Therapy for Cognitive Health in Low-Income African American Elders,” Postman et al. describe a community-based group intervention to address disparities experienced by African American elders in the early stages of cognitive–communicative decline. The intervention included partnerships with community health centers, culturally informed activities, and ongoing input from staff and participants. The authors describe the advantages of this community-engaged approach, as well as the benefits of joining hearing and cognition for minimizing access barriers. In “Public Health Frameworks in Audiology Education: Rationale and Model for Implementation,” Warren and Levy review how public health education can advance the field of audiology, particularly through coursework and dual degree programs. The authors also describe two frameworks for public health training in an audiology academic setting and identify the competencies that overlap in audiology and public health, helping to illustrate the relevance of public health education in addressing objectives in hearing
health care.
Best Seller
Format(s):
eWorkshop
This course discusses validated technologies for remote hearing screening in the digital age, including options for no-touch screening with uncalibrated equipment and low-touch remote screening.
The course is part of a set of practical programs that address specific aspects of remote practice in audiology.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
This webinar explores challenges school professionals face regarding Hearing Assistive Technology (HAT), discusses preferred practices for determining HAT eligibility, and shares practical guides to use in your work setting. The speaker addresses common questions like: "How can I ensure that this HAT is appropriate for this student?" "How can I ensure that the equipment is working each day?" "How can I get buy-in from school partners regarding the equipment's day-to-day use?"
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
There has been a renewed interest in the provision of aural rehabilitation (AR) services as part of patient-centered hearing health care. Aural rehabilitation is a holistic approach to the management of hearing loss that may include patient education, fitting of devices, and auditory training exercises. Although audiologists may recognize the benefits of comprehensive AR, questions may remain about how to measure functional outcomes of these services. This course reviews functional outcome assessments for aural rehabilitation and how to incorporate these measures into everyday practice to enhance patient success.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
This activity has two articles with different foci. The misophonia case study is a contribution to the evidence base for use of sound therapy and coping strategies in treating and managing misophonia. It also shares available tools for diagnosing misophonia. The study about using learning applications in intervention for children with hearing loss shares results of a speech-language pathologists' focus group. The focus group centered on using speech and language application features, benefits, and concerns in school-based service delivery
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Hundreds of medications commonly prescribed for anticancer treatments and some infections are known to cause auditory and/or vestibular dysfunction, known as ototoxicity. This course discusses early detection of ototoxicity through increased awareness, leveraging current tools, and clinical practice approaches for serial monitoring, all of which can provide care teams opportunities to identify adverse effects, modify treatment plans to mitigate hearing loss, and utilize individualized interventions. The speaker discusses strategies for preventing or minimizing cochlear damage to preserve quality of life for patients receiving treatment and to reduce the societal burden of hearing loss.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Gene therapy offers the promise to correct inherited forms of hearing loss as well as acquired forms such as noise-induced hearing loss, ototoxicity, and presbycusis. However, there are several barriers that must be overcome before such potential can be realized. This course describes the conceptual framework that governs gene therapy today, reveals how this framework has influenced current progress, and discusses a re-imagining of inner ear gene therapy with the goal of achieving outcomes that are clinically relevant and realistic.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
These SIG 8 Perspectives articles focus on topics that are important in promoting public health audiology. In “Fundamentals of Epidemiology for the Audiologist,” Torre and Reavis provide an overview of basic epidemiologic concepts including study design, prevalence, incidence, risk ratios, and odds ratios. The authors emphasize that an understanding of epidemiology is crucial for audiologists for a variety of reasons, including to help them assess the quality of publications, evaluate and discuss the efficacy of screening methods, and evaluate and communicate risk factors for ear and hearing problems. In “Hearing Health Care Delivery Outside the Booth,” Gates, Hecht, Grantham, Fallon, and Martukovich review the literature on boothless audiometry and introduce current tools used to deliver hearing health care outside of the traditional clinic setting. From their review, the authors conclude that boothless audiometry technology provides an opportunity for audiologists to expand services to nontraditional settings such as waiting grooms and nursing homes, increasing access to care, early identification, and intervention, and therefore improving health outcomes.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
How can audiologists enhance patient-centered communication, even during the COVID-19 pandemic? This self-study is from the journal, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, SIG 7: Auditory Rehabilitation and Its Instrumentation. It features two articles focused on patient-centered strategies for effective communication, from initial consultations to prioritizing follow-up care, during COVID-19. It also includes the article that won the 2021 ASHA Journals Editor’s Award for Perspectives (for SIGs 6, 7, 8, and 9) by Davidson and Marrone.
The first article is, “How to Provide Accessible Hearing Health Information to Promote Patient-Centered Care.” Kelly-Campbell and Manchaiah review the literature within audiology on patient-provider communication. They focus on research studies of communication during initial audiology consultation sessions. Through a summary of themes in the literature, they categorize important research findings that provide insight into communication between patients and their audiologists. Finally, they identify five key strategies for effective patient-centered communication. Each strategy is then reviewed in detail, with clinical examples and specific recommendations that can be immediately
implemented in practice.
The second article is, “A Clinically Valuable Interaction in the Midst of COVID-19 and Beyond: A Viewpoint on the Importance of Patient-Centered Outcomes in Rehabilitative Audiology.” Davidson and Marrone discuss patient-centered communication following hearing aid device fittings. They identify challenges facing patients and audiologists related to follow-up hearing aid services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a literature review and their own recent research, they developed a decision-tree algorithm to help audiologists prioritize clinical activities following hearing aid fittings, including remote formats for care. The algorithm was based on use of a patient-centered outcome measure, the Measure of Audiologic Rehabilitation Self-Efficacy. Patient-centered outcomes measurement is suggested as an engagement strategy for continued communication with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
These three articles describe current issues and advances related to hearing diagnostics, treatment, and prevention. The first article is a detailed description of the impact that COVID-19 face masks and social distancing regulations have had on speech recognition and how face masks affect the acoustic signal and increase cognitive effort in listeners with hearing loss. Suggestions for mitigating these deleterious impacts on communication are provided. The second article is a research study examining the correlation between self-perceived hearing difficulty, determined using a questionnaire (Adult Auditory Performance Scale), and speech-in-noise performance (Listening in Spatialized Noise–Sentences Test) in listeners with normal pure-tone thresholds. Results highlight the relationship between self-perceived hearing abilities and binaural speech-in-noise performance supporting the inclusion of speech-in-noise testing even in those with normal pure-tone thresholds. The third article is a review of current genetic, stem cell, and pharmacotherapy research for treatment and prevention of hearing loss. Animal models are discussed, as well as steps to translate this research into clinical practice.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
Noise is prevalent in everyday life, and the general population lacks awareness of the risks of hazardous noise exposure and strategies to reduce noise-induced hearing loss. By integrating hearing loss prevention education into patient encounters and taking advantage of outreach/education opportunities, audiologists can help reduce the prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss. This course discusses the why, where, and how of integrating prevention education into your practice.
Best Seller
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
The likelihood of encountering multilingual individuals, non-English-speaking individuals, and non-native speakers of English in the clinic is becoming more common. As audiologists are working with linguistically diverse populations, they may find themselves asking, “How should I evaluate speech perception in my patients who are not monolingual speakers of English? Which speech materials should I use?” This on demand webinar reviews the current literature on multilingual and non-native speech perception and discusses approaches to best serve patients from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
Format(s):
SIG Perspectives
This activity includes two articles related to language and literacy intervention for children with hearing loss and deafness. In the first article, Stephanie Mary Raymond and Tring D. Spencer investigate the effect of narrative language intervention on the narrative retelling skills and vocabulary use of children with hearing loss. In the second
article, Krystal L. Werfel and Sarah Lawrence describe specific considerations for print-referencing interventions for children with hearing loss along with a case study.
The respective authors conclude that print referencing, with specific considerations for children with hearing loss, may be an effective emergent literacy intervention to increase conceptual print knowledge for children preschool-age with hearing loss; and narrative intervention is promising for facilitating language skills improvement for children with hearing loss. Both studies require replication for their findings.
Format(s):
eWorkshop
The degree of hearing aid adoption as a treatment to lessen communication difficulties has remained essentially unchanged over the past four decades. This session will share evidence and hands-on tools that promote opportunities for evaluating and modifying patient readiness, with the intent of enhancing the adoption of professional audiology services and amplification technologies.
Format(s):
eWorkshop
The provision of comprehensive auditory rehabilitation services is critical to successful patient outcomes, yet many audiologists focus primarily or exclusively on amplification due to time, reimbursement, and compliance challenges. This session will clearly define the components of auditory rehabilitation and provide specific strategies and tools to help overcome challenges.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
This webinar will review the current state of hearing loss and hearing health care among individuals living with dementia, with an emphasis on addressing existing care disparities. The speaker will discuss the association between hearing loss and cognition, its impact on individuals living with dementia, and opportunities to expand access to hearing care through community-delivered approaches. This webinar – part of the SIGnature Series – was developed by SIG 7: Aural Rehabilitation and Its Instrumentation, SIG 8: Audiology and Public Health, and SIG 15: Gerontology.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) was established to develop evidence-based guidelines for supporting infants and young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. In 2019, the JCIH published an updated position statement based on expertise from stakeholder groups – including audiologists, SLPs, pediatricians, early intervention providers, otolaryngologists, and professionals from the Deaf community. This course describes the major changes in the JCIH position statement as well as clinical implications for any professional involved in serving children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. This course – part of the SIGnature Series – was developed by SIG 9: Hearing and Hearing Disorders in Childhood.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
This course explores the most commonly fit devices for patients whose hearing is significantly poorer in one ear than the other (e.g., single-sided deafness or asymmetric hearing loss) and identify factors that impact device selection and hearing management. Using data analysis and case examples from their clinic, the speakers discuss management options for asymmetrical sensorineural hearing loss, including traditional hearing aids, Bi-CROS devices, bone conduction devices (BCD), and cochlear implants (all with or without assistive devices).This course – part of the SIGnature Series – was developed by SIG 6: Hearing and Hearing Disorders: Research and Diagnostics.
Format(s):
On Demand Webinar
This course features moderated discussions among a panel of clinicians who collectively provide cochlear implant auditory rehabilitation (AR) to patients of all ages. Topics and discussions demonstrate the need to expand and differentiate intervention approaches based on the unique needs of individual patients with cochlear implants. Panelists review recent studies, present translational applications, share case studies and examples, illustrate multidisciplinary professional roles, and discuss evidence-based assessment and treatment. This course – part of the SIGnature Series – was developed by SIG 7: Aural Rehabilitation and Its Instrumentation.
|
