The Pulse Tone February 2020

About Us

Welcome back to the PulseTone! This is the eighth 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.

Have Ya Heard?

• On December 12, 2019, the House of Representatives passed the H.R. 3 bill. Within this bill is Section 602 entitled “Providing Coverage for Hearing Care Under the Medicare Program.” This bill not only adds new hearing aid benefits for Medicare patients, but would reclassify audiologists as practitioners under Medicare. This would improve access to hearing and balance care for our patients. For more information review pages 169-175 of H.R. 3.
   
• Vibroacoustic Disease? Dr. Billings, founder of the International Military and Civilian Stress Conference, recently wrote an article in The Hearing Journal talking about Vibroacoustic Disease (August 2019). As audiologists, we are advocates for hearing conservation and hearing loss prevention, but typically focus more on high-frequency stimulation. Learn more about vibroacoustic disease and the impact high-intensity/low-frequency (HI/LF) has on one’s overall health.
   
• The Academy recently released two new documents.
  • Clinical Consensus Document for Audiologic Services for Musicians and Industry Personnel
  • Revised Clinical Guidance Document on Assessment of Hearing in Infants and Young Children, which took into consideration the 2019 Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) Position Statement.

Need to Know

• The New Professionals have their very own group on Facebook. Visit us and request to join!
   
• AAA 2020 + HearTECH Expo online conference planner is available. Plan your schedule early and be on the lookout for additional communication from us regarding new professionals that are presenting as well as sessions that may be of particulate interest.
   
• The slate for the 2020 Academy Board has been released. Bios for the nominees for president-elect and members-at-large are posted on the Academy website. Elections of new board members will be held April 6–May 8, 2020.

New Professionals Spotlight

This is our continuing segment on highlighting new professionals and their career paths!  We’d like to introduce you to Eric Bostwick, 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.

• Workplace Burnout

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.