President’s Message | Why Professional Community Still Matters
Over the years, some of my favorite moments in our profession have come through conversations with colleagues. Whether discussing patient care, education, research, or leadership, those conversations consistently remind me just how much audiology is evolving and how many new opportunities and challenges we are navigating together.
Expanding the Audiological Tinnitus Toolkit: Integrating Bimodal Neuromodulation for Comprehensive Care
Hearing and Balance Specialists of Kansas City was established in 2016 and has grown into a specialty-focused practice operating across three locations in the Kansas City metro, serving both urban and surrounding rural communities.
Streamlining Cochlear Implant Programming: A Protocol for Integrating Data and Physiology
As cochlear implant clinical practice guidelines evolve toward greater efficiency, the path to optimal patient outcomes lies in a balanced clinical protocol that utilizes automated population averages as a foundation for patient-specific objective measures (Holder et al., 2025).
The Little Program That Could
Despite well-established outcomes, CIs remain significantly underutilized in the United States (Neukam et al., 2024). Expanding candidacy criteria have increased the number of individuals who may benefit from cochlear implantation; however, many potential candidates remain unidentified or encounter barriers to referral and access (Neukam et al., 2024; Zwolan & Basura, 2021).
Audio Quality in Captioned Calls
Captioned telephone services are a vital communication tool for many people who are DHH who rely on both auditory and visual information to understand spoken messages. In the United States, Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS) enables users to hear the caller’s voice while simultaneously receiving real-time captions generated by automatic speech recognition (ASR) or human captioners.
Audiology Coding Q&A: Part 2
In the September/October issue of Audiology Today, the Coding and Reimbursement Committee provided an article that addressed questions raised in our “Coding Unscripted” session at AAA 2026 and in recent member submissions to the reimbursement mailbox. In the process of drafting that article, which involved identifying thematic topic areas of interest to our membership, we determined that a two-part series was necessary to deliver the requested information.
Looking Ahead: EHDI Reauthorization in the 120th Congress
As Congress moves toward the end of the 119th Congress, the hearing health community should already be looking ahead to an important legislative priority for 2027: reauthorization of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs. The current EHDI authorization runs through Fiscal Year 2027, making reauthorization an important priority for the 120th Congress.
JFLAC 2026: Developing the Next Generation of Audiology Leaders
For the 2026 James Jerger Future Leaders of Audiology Conference (JFLAC) cohort, answering that question was at the heart of three days of conversation and connection September 17–19 at the American Academy of Audiology headquarters in Reston, Virginia.
AAA 2027 Convention Preview and Updates
AAA 2027 is fast approaching, taking place April 7–10, 2027, in St. Louis, Missouri. As convention chair and someone who has attended the AAA Annual Convention for many years, I am excited to share my vision for this year’s meeting, recognize the tremendous work of our volunteers, preview some of the sessions we have planned, and highlight several exciting changes coming to AAA 2027.
Academy Spotlight
The Academy is proud to highlight the members and volunteers who help advance the profession every day. Through our Academy Spotlight series, we recognize individuals making meaningful contributions to audiology through clinical care, research, leadership, education, and service.
President’s Message: Isomorphism and Clinical Decision Making
Isomorphism is a concept that appears in mathematics, computer science, and organizational theory. It means that two apparently different systems can share a similar underlying structure or set of processes. Consider this simple algorithm for keeping a rocket on course:
Audiology Assistants: Essential Partners in the Future of Hearing-Health Care
An audiologist spends part of the morning troubleshooting Bluetooth connectivity, replacing wax guards, and walking a patient through hearing aid insertion for the third time. Meanwhile, diagnostic evaluations are backed up for weeks, new referrals continue to arrive, and another patient calls asking if someone can help with their over-the-counter (OTC) hearing device.
Advancing Vestibular Care: The Role of the Vestibular Audiology Specialty Certification
Watching the splashdown of the Artemis II space capsule was thrilling and awe-inspiring. But, to me, hearing former astronaut Scott Kelly and neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta accurately discuss the impact of zero gravity and space travel on the astronauts’ vestibular systems was even more exciting.
From Itemization to Valuation: Determining Professional Service Value in Audiology Practice
In Part 1 of this series, we explored how bundled pricing models can unintentionally obscure the value of audiologists’ professional services, limit reimbursement opportunities, and create financial risk for practices (Murphy et al., 2026).
Hear Us Out: Supporting LGBTQ+ Patients
By 2030, there will be an estimated four to eight million older adults who identify as LGBTQ+ in the United States (Zanetos & Skipper, 2020). Today, LGBTQ+ older adults encounter several barriers to accessing health care, health insurance, and long-term care as compared to non-LGBTQ+ individuals (Loeb et al., 2021).
Audiology Coding Q&A
Coding for audiologic services can be complex, and there is rarely only one correct option. Given the complexities and nuance of the systems that govern coding and reimbursement, it is vital that audiologists have access to resources to help formulate well-reasoned answers that will ensure accurate coding and support appropriate reimbursement.
Presidential Perspective: The Role of AAA in Advancing Educational Audiology
To celebrate Educational Audiology Week, October 19-23, we invited Aurora J. Weaver, PhD, AuD, CCC-A, President of the Educational Audiology Association (EAA), to reflect on the importance of collaboration between EAA and the American Academy of Audiology.
Academy Spotlight
The Academy is proud to highlight the members and volunteers who help advance the profession every day. Through our Academy Spotlight series, we recognize individuals making meaningful contributions to audiology through clinical care, research, leadership, education, and service.
New Vestibular CPT® Codes for 2027 Implementation
The CPT code numbers shown are placeholders and are not yet final. Final code numbers are proprietary to the American Medical Association and will be assigned and published with the release of the 2027 CPT code set, prior to the codes’ effective date.
