The Continuum of Care for Treating Hearing Loss: Incorporating Cochlear Implants into Audiology Practice

Moderated by Sarah Sydlowski, AuD, PhD

Sponsored by Cochlear Americas.

AAA 2020 + HearTECH Expo

Featured Session

Friday, April 3, 2:30–4:30 pm

The feedback I hear from my cochlear implant (CI) recipients more often than any other is “I wish I hadn’t waited so long.” Cochlear implant technology can be life-changing in so many ways. But for 90-95 percent of candidates, the wait continues.

Access to CI technology is among the great challenges in our profession today. Numerous reasons for these disappointing utilization rates have been cited, among them concern that audiologists and other hearing care providers don’t understand who is a candidate for CI, are intimidated by integrating CI into their practices, or don’t know how much CI has changed in recent years.

So many of my CI recipients have struggled with their hearing loss for an unnecessarily long time, treating CI like a last resort. But recommending a CI should not be what we do when we’re out of options. Recommending a CI is about optimizing hearing and offering a better solution as soon as it’s possible!

This year at AAA 2020 + HearTECH Expo, you’ll have the opportunity to be part of the solution, increasing access to CI for patients who can benefit from it. Don’t miss a highly interactive Featured Session on Friday, April 3 (2:30-4:30)—The Continuum of Care for Treating Hearing Loss: Incorporating Cochlear Implants into Audiology Practice. During this session, you will hear from a panel of audiologists who have successfully incorporated CI into their practices and you will be empowered to address CI in yours (while earning Tier 1 CEUs).

This is not a session just for those of us who call ourselves CI audiologists. This session highlights that we all need to be CI audiologists, although perhaps to varying extents. Whether we’re recommending an evaluation or activating the device, we all have the responsibility to make sure the patients who will benefit from CI have access to them.

We’ll share the practical tips, personal experiences, and logistical details you need to feel more comfortable recommending CI to appropriate candidates and even expanding your own practice to include working directly with this life-changing technology.

And, don’t miss an opportunity for hands-on practice using aided speech recognition testing to measure your patients’ performance with hearing aids and identify appropriate CI candidates. The new Hands-On Pavilion in the HearTECH Expo, on Thursday and Friday, will complement this Featured Session to make sure you’re ready to offer a whole new level of care to your patients and differentiate your practice. Don’t miss out!

Review the full schedule of educational opportunities and activities at AAA 2020 + HearTECH Expo, April 1–4, in New Orleans.