On Friday, March 20, 2020, the entire group of audiologists I work with at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) was taking care of patients in person. Three days later, Monday, March 23, 2020, we were providing all of our services remotely.
We had been thinking about expanding into telehealth over the past year, but we had all sorts of reasons why it wouldn’t, couldn’t, and shouldn’t work. And then one day, it had to work or we wouldn’t have been able to take care of our patients.
Topic(s): President's Message, audiology, Telehealth, tele-audiology, teleaudiology, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), CARES Act, Medicare, cochlear implant codes, Cochlear Implants (CI)
The world of cochlear implants (CIs) is evolving. What was once a treatment pathway for a limited population of patients with profound hearing impairment has expanded to include individuals with moderate to severe hearing loss. CI technology, which began as basic sound processing through an electrode array, has grown to include Bluetooth streaming and cell phone connectivity.
Topic(s): Cochlear Implants (CI), CI, Hearing Impairment (HI), Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids
In July 2019, the American Academy of Audiology released its Clinical Practice Guidelines for Cochlear Implants (CIs) (Messersmith et al, 2019). Cochlear implantation is a surgical procedure for the treatment of severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both children and adults.
Topic(s): Cochlear Implants (CI), Coding, Reimbursement
Catherine Palmer, in her General Assembly Speech at the Academy’s 2019 annual conference, inspired us by emphasizing that audiologists have an incredibly important and expanded role in the health and well-being of the people we serve.
“Audiologists start a chain of events for a child that will promote reading, education, and employment,” she said in her address.
That chain of events starts with a child learning to listen and learning spoken language. This article will address the audiologist’s role in those events from a very practical perspective.
Topic(s): Audiologist, Professional Development, auditory information, auditory neural pathways, Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants (CI), Parents’ Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH), auditory brainstem response (ABR), visual reinforcement audiology (VRA)
Our clinical concerns for children who are deaf or hard of hearing center on providing audible and comfortable access to sound. Our counterparts in speech-language pathology focus on developing receptive and expressive communication skills.
Although our field excels at helping children with hearing loss who use auditory technology (i.e., hearing aids and/or cochlear implants) acquire speech, language, and hearing skills, we do not necessarily shine in addressing how these children use their communication abilities in the real world.
Topic(s): Psychology, speech-language pathologist, Hearing Loss, Cochlear Implants (CI), speech production, speech intelligibility, language, speech-in-noise
