AuD Awareness

[Cochlear]

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I think that as AuD (or PhD in some cases) students it's also in some ways our responsibility to sort of "spread the news" a bit about our degree. For example, tonight I re-registered for a particular flying organization I am a member of. I noticed in the suffix box they included things like MD, PHD, OD, DO, DVM, etc, etc. but lacked AUD. Not to toot my own horn or anything like that, but I took a moment to send off an e-mail to the member services committee informing them about the new AuD and just some basic info about it, requesting they add it to the suffix selection menu.

I guess it seems a bit trivial but why not take a moment to educate people who may not know and spread some awareness? I think this sort of "viral marketing" of sorts will only serve to help us in the long run.

Thanks all!

 

[rEliseMe]

Great example, thanks for sharing! 🙂

 

[Dustbug10]

Stuff like this may seem minor, but it's crucial that all of us follow suit.. Not just for the AuD degree, but the profession in general. I did a research paper on market penetration. The hard of hearing population continues to grow exponentially, but the percentage treated remains stagnant. This remained the case whether the economy was booming or in recession. Interestingly enough, the best numbers came when Ronald Reagan was on the cover of Time Magazine with his hearing aid on full display. Awareness is everything, and that's on us..

 

[Cochlear]

So I got an e-mail from member services this morning and they went ahead and just added AUD after my member name. Sigh...time to try again.

 

[SoCalAud]

I agree!

 

[LuvDaEar]

Way to be proactive Cochlear! I think this is a great example of not brushing off everyday things like that and doing something about it. Sometimes the number of obstacles in our way seems intimidating, specially with the AMA bullhockey but it's good to know that sometimes fighting the fight is simply noticing and educating!

 

[rEliseMe]

Just thought I'd share...

I had a nice talk this morning with my father's secretary about audiologists versus hearing aid dispensers. I was telling her about tinnitus and how hearing aids are sometimes a treatment and she mentioned that her parents are realizing they need hearing aids but don't want to get them because their friends had awful experiences and felt a $15 Radioshack gadget could do just as well.

I told her they probably got their HAs from a dispenser, and that's why they didn't really do much good. Luckily, my dad has HAs so I had a nice example to draw from. He actually brought me into an appointment with our (I've got mild loss as well; thanks, dad!) audiologist and had her make a channel specifically suited to my voice. When I step into his office to chat with him in the mornings, he'll switch channels so he can understand me better.

"It's just a quick flip of the finger, and he has access to like five different channels for different situations," I told her. A dispenser is much less likely to utilize the full range of options for hearing aids, so the customer (clearly not a patient or client in that situation) is left with a very expensive device that works basically like Radioshack's gadget. An audiologist can listen to the client's complaints and make judgments about how to tailor the HA to offer the maximum benefit to the specific person and their specific type of loss.

"Wow," she said, after my diatribe, "I'll have to let them know to go to an audiologist!"

Good audiology/advocacy deed for the day? Check!

 

[SoCalAud]

👍 Good job, rEliseMe!!!

May I ask which hearing aids your dad wears? Are you aided, too?

 

[rEliseMe]

Y'know, I have no idea what make/model he wears but I will ask him and let you know this afternoon.

I am unaided (but I use an FM system in the classroom). As of my last audiogram, I just have very mild bilateral loss around 2-3KHz. Audiogram-wise, it's unimpressive; but conversationally, I have a lot of trouble without visual input because I miss a lot of consonants.

I'm not sure when I'll be bad enough for HAs. The dip was in my left ear first (~20-25dB) but my right caught up in 2 years. Maybe it was just jealous and I'll hold constant for a while. We'll see. 🙂

👍 Good job, rEliseMe!!!

May I ask which hearing aids your dad wears? Are you aided, too?

 

[rEliseMe]

May I ask which hearing aids your dad wears?

Alrighty, SoCal, I called to check and he wears binaural BTE custom-mold GN ReSound Azure HAs. I'm not sure how many channels he has but I know he has one for my voice and one for restaurants.

It seems from the product information that the Azures actually inherently create channels which maximize S:N and natural sound quality. We have fantastic insurance, though.

 

[Audie2014]

I always thought hearing aids were not covered by insurance. 😕

 

[rEliseMe]

I always thought hearing aids were not covered by insurance. 😕

They covered 80% but with a maximum cap so my Dad bought one at the end of the year (haha! I originally typo'd this as 'ear') and the other at the beginning of the next year. I think that coverage definitely depends your specific plan. Our insurance has always been very good about covering things. Wish I could stick with it forever... I don't want to get older!