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Helping People Hear Anywhere with Telecoils and Auracast
Recently, we received an enthusiastic email from an audiologist who a hearing aid supplier told us that Auracast™ is ready to take over from telecoils and hearing loops. The audiologist, having been the catalyst for some hundred consumer-preferred hearing loops in her community, was prepared to start installing Auracast™ streamed assistive listening systems. She sought advice on gear up for Auracast advocacy, even while her patients currently use and benefit from hearing loops. As advocates for people with hearing loss, this is a fun email to get. Here’s a provider who understands that Auracast system installations won’t be adopted without professionals taking an active role in their communities.
Genetics, Hearing Loss, and the Audiologist
We would like to acknowledge and thank the American Academy of Audiology for permission to reprint this important article that appeared in Audiology Today that can assist the clinical audiologist in providing the best practice care for their hard of hearing, Deaf, and deafened patients.
To the Brain and Back: The Role of Visual Neuroplasticity in Cochlear Implant Users’ Speech Outcomes
Cochlear implants (CIs) can restore hearing function from deafness or profound hearing loss, but CI recipients’ long-term speech outcomes can vary widely. Some recover speech perception rapidly and show good listening performance in noisy environments. Others may rehabilitate slowly, struggle with simple words in quiet, or even fail to recover functional speech perception. Research has shown that several factors, such as the cause or duration of deafness, the amount of residual hearing, or whether deafness occurred before or after developing language, correlate with CI users’ long-term speech perception ability. However, much variation in CI users’ speech perception remains unexplained.
Professional Development Opportunities as a Student
Professional development is critical to career growth and in today’s dynamic work environment. Professional development involves actively seeking opportunities to enhance skills, staying current with industry trends, and expanding knowledge regarding the field of audiology.
Striking the Right Balance
Are you interested in expanding your clinic’s services to include vestibular and balance testing but unsure where to begin or what tools are essential? Do you want to provide comprehensive audiological care and establish your clinic as a leader in audiology services? By identifying vestibular dysfunction early and connecting patients with the appropriate specialists or rehabilitation options, you position your clinic as a cornerstone in a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare. In this guide, we’ll explore practical, cost-effective ways to start incorporating vestibular and balance screenings into your hearing clinic with minimal initial investment.
Hearing Health and Cognitive Health: Ten Things That People Who Are Hard of Hearing Should Know
Over the last four decades, research has shown that there are connections between hearing and cognition in older adults. Over the last few years, research has turned to some important questions. What reasons explain why hearing loss and cognitive decline or dementia seem to be connected? If they are connected by a known cause, then could treatments for hearing loss reduce cognitive decline or dementia? If another cause affects both hearing and cognition, then could treatments for their common cause protect both hearing health and cognitive health? Here are ten things that people who are hard of hearing should know about what we know so far about the answers to these questions. These points will be expanded in future articles.
Columns
What’s New About Getting Older?
Canada is expected to become a “super-aged” society within the next five years. In 2025, are audiologists poised to become “super-hearing” care experts? 2025 is a super time to transform the old negative view of hearing loss as an age-related decline that leads to more age-related declines into a new positive view of hearing health as a key to healthy aging and even “super aging.”
Quick Answers
Bone-conduction hearing devices connected to skin-penetrating abutments (e.g., Oticon Medical Ponto, Cochlear BAHA) can certainly generate feedback. As expected, feedback becomes increasingly concerning with worsening degrees of cochlear hearing loss. However, the mechanisms contributing to feedback in bone-conduction hearing devices differ slightly from those in air-conduction hearing aids.
Sound Business Sense
In the last Sound Business Sense, the discussion centered on the business cycles that are part of any “free market” system. Businesses thrive on the reliable prediction of revenues and earnings for continued success, possible expansion, and startup ventures; however, the onset of the COVID crisis disrupted all free-market economies, so there were no longer stable prediction capabilities. These major economic fluctuations have not been seen in over a hundred years.
Audiology in the Classrooms
In 2018, I wrote a column entitled Can Streaming Technologies Replace Personal “FM” Systems in the Classroom. I talked about the potential for traditional personal FM systems to be replaced by simpler, less expensive Bluetooth remote microphones in the classroom. It’s been more than 6 years since that column, and technology continues to evolve, most recently with the development of Auracast, so it seems relevant to revisit the question. Are personal FM systems obsolete?
The Way I Hear It
My hearing advocacy colleague Shari Eberts and I were excited, as always, to attend a conference of hearing care professionals (HCPs), where we were scheduled to present the patient’s perspective.
We were dismayed, at the first presentation of the conference, to find that the captioning access we depend on for speech comprehension was not available. While we had not expected that the room would be hearing-looped, which is the standard in consumer hearing loss meetings and conferences, captioning access is integral to the communication success of people with hearing loss.
CAA News
January 2025
1. CAA Conference 2025: Save the DateIndustry News
January 2025
1. Americans with Disabilities Act Advocacy2. Top Ten Stories from Hearing Health and Technology Matters in 2024
3. Science Advances For Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Communities: Canadian Hearing Services Global Partnerships For Research & Innovation Awards Four New Research Grants