Over the last couple of months, I’ve had the opportunity and pleasure to briefly shift gears for a few days from my busy patient care to spend time ‘geeking’ out with fellow Audiologists from around the state and around the country.
Quite recently I went to the California Academy of Audiology’s (CAA) annual meeting in Santa Clara. Frequent readers know I really enjoy learning (music & snowboarding too), and CAA is a great place to get together with colleagues and learn about the latest research and technology that’s helping us improve the lives of our patients. It is two full days (Friday and Saturday from 9am to 6pm) of fascinating information presented by passionate experts.
Friday started off with a bang with a presentation succinctly titled “Music and Hearing Aids” (a passion of mine in case you didn’t know), and segued right into another incredibly useful & fascinating presentation about the latest cochlear implant (CI) candidacy guidelines and approaches to improving music perception for CI users. Other highlights from Friday were illuminating talks about Auditory Processing Disorders (issues involving how the brain processes, decodes and integrates auditory information) and a convincing research presentation arguing in favor of replacing a longtime test in the standard audiological test battery with a newer one that appears to have better sensitivity and specificity.
The highlights of Saturday for me were a presentation of groundbreaking research into the dysfunction and restoration of auditory transduction channels, the tips of the tiny hair cells in the cochlea or inner ear (using a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR/Cas9 to edit specific genes by precisely cutting specific dysfunctional strands of DNA and then letting natural DNA repair processes take over) and a very timely and sobering presentation about cybersecurity in the hearing health care space from a cybersecurity expert who works for the NSA (National Security Association) and happens to be married to an audiologist.
Another highlight of every CAA are the AuD (Doctor of Audiology) student research project presentations. Each year, CAA always dedicates time to allow current AuD students to present their own research projects that they’ve been doing on top of their didactic and clinical responsibilities! I’m always enheartened for the field of Audiology listening to these amazing, confident audiologists-in-training.
But I’ve come to realize that the best thing for me personally and professionally is seeing 25 years of friends, colleagues, and this year, the University of Pacific AuD students who’ve recently done internships in our office.
I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but from what I see, the field of Audiology in California is strong, evolving, adapting and in good hands. These are smart, dedicated people whose driving motivation is to improve the lives of others.
Next month I want to share with you my trip to Chicago to get together with the most amazing, passionate and giving private practice audiologists from around the country.
Please continue to love your community by getting vaccinated (your booster) and continuing to mask/distance when & where appropriate. And please always support your local businesses.
