The Pulse Tone

The Pulse Tone is a quarterly newsletter designed specifically for and sent only to New Professionals. We know everyone is busy, so we’ve specially formatted the newsletter to be a quick and easy way to get audiology information that is most relevant to you. Past releases of The Pulse Tone have been archived for your reference.


August 2019
About Us
Welcome back to the PulseTone! This is the seventh installment of the New Professional’s e-newsletter. You can find the previous installments here. We know you are busy and receive many emails so we promise to keep this short but informative. Wait a second – who is ‘we’? “We” is the New Professionals Committee. We’ve been around for a few years now, and are tasked with identifying and promoting the needs of New Professionals within the Academy. Communication is a two-way street, and we want to improve our connections with all of our fellow NPs. Wondering how to get involved in the Academy? Sign-in to the Audiology Community and under the “Volunteer” tab, select “Current Volunteer Opportunities” for a listing of all open opportunities. The Volunteer Reserve is currently open for applications. View the Academy’s volunteer FAQ page for more information.
Need to Know
On July 25, 2019, AAA, ADA, and ASHA publicly announced a joint statement of support for the Medicare Audiologist Access and Services Act of 2019. Read the joint statement of support on the Academy’s website and learn more about H.R. 4056. On June 14, 2019, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) released survey data showing that audiology salaries are on the rise. According to the findings, there was an average 3% increase in base salary between 2016 and 2018, equating to a median salary of $80,000. This is reassuring news for recent graduates entering the profession as well as incoming graduate students wanting to invest in a doctorate of audiology degree. It is also important to know that 22% of the respondents reported having some unpaid student debt, with a median amount of $60,000. Good Morning America recently had a segment on insurance coverage for children’s hearing aids. The Academy provided background information for this news story. Currently, 25 states mandate insurance coverage for children, while 5 states have pending legislation.
Have You Heard?
Planning for AAA 2020 + HearTECH Expo has already begun! Be on the lookout for our New Professionals sessions in New Orleans and reach out with any topics you would like to see covered. The results of the 2019-2020 Academy Board of Directors elections were released last month. Congratulations to president-elect, Angela Shoup, PhD, and the members at large, Jamie Bogle, AuD, PhD, Lindsey Jorgensen, AuD, PhD, Steven G. Madix, PhD, and Devon Weist, AuD.
New Professionals Spotlight
This is our continuing segment on highlighting new professionals and their career paths! We’d like to introduce you to Jacob Sommers, AuD. Do you have a new professional friend you would like to see us put in the spotlight next time? Send us an email with your suggestion!
Other News Bytes
Check out our News Bytes section of the New Professionals web page. We are releasing monthly articles about topics of interest to NPs and beyond. Public Service Loan Forgiveness Social Media Usage of Hearing Loss Patients That’s it! You made it to the end of this newsletter and hopefully you learned something useful. We would love to hear from you, please consider the following: Contact us Answer two questions for us, ask a question of us Visit the NP portion of the Academy website We welcome your feedback! Please feel free to reach out.