The Hearing Doctors
Inside the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic and Audiology Program
Audiology suffers from an image problem. Few have heard of it, and when they have it’s often been pigeonholed as selling hearing aids. But for audiologists and the students who choose to pursue audiology, it’s a life-enhancing and life-saving branch of health science and practice.
Doctoral students pursue audiology because “they really want to help others,” says Mark Rasmussen, AuD, clinical director of the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at the College of Health.
Some students come to the field having experienced hearing loss themselves. Others have seen firsthand its impact on a loved one. The latter category fits doctor of audiology students Juliana Oliver and Hector Sanchez. Both were inspired to enter this lesser-known field because of someone close. First-year Oliver’s Croatian grandmother, Baba, had developed hearing issues from untreated ear infections as a child. Oliver knew about the social isolation Baba’s severe hearing loss created. So when Oliver visited her grandmother several months after Baba got a cochlear implant, she marveled at how Baba had changed.
“She could hear everybody and was going out and talking to people,” Oliver recalls. “We could have full-on conversations without either my mom or my aunt interpreting.”
Seeing how the implant changed Baba’s life, Oliver chose speech pathology and audiology for her undergrad degree. Once she realized the focus of audiology classes, she was hooked.
For Sanchez, a third-year, it was his little brother. When Sanchez was in high school, his brother was diagnosed as being severe to profoundly deaf. An audiologist helped him build up his confidence to where he didn’t allow his hearing to define him or hold him back.
“Audiology was more than just selling hearing aids,” says Sanchez. “It was contributing to a better lifestyle overall.”
What Audiologists Do
Some people may see audiology as nothing more than hearing tests and aids. But at it's core, it's about diagnosing and treating auditory and vestibular disorders, Sanchez says.
Oliver believes a key to treatment is aural rehabilitation. “Whether it's patients learning how to communicate in big groups or not being embarrassed to ask for repetition,” she says. “Hearing aids aren’t a cure for hearing loss but rather a tool that helps people return to functioning.”
In Utah, many people’s lives are what Rasmussen calls “noise-exposed.” It could be related to an occupation, such as mining, using power tools, shooting guns recreationally, or riding four-wheelers or ATVs. Whatever the cause, Utahns at play or work often face hearing loss due to noise exposure, particularly as they age.
"Audiology was more than just selling hearing aids. It was contributing to a better lifestyle overall.”
The effects of untreated hearing loss can be devastating. Hearing loss is among the most modifiable factors in preventing dementia. The social isolation caused by hearing loss is often a significant factor in cognitive decline.
Untreated hearing loss in children can lead to delayed speech and language skills, self-esteem issues, and learning problems.
Building Clinical Skills Through Supervised Practice
Each year, the doctor of audiology program accepts between eight and 15 students, with the four-year program having between 35 to 50 total students.
The first year is a mix of classes and observing clinical practice at the Speech- Language-Hearing Clinic. The clinic serves a variety of patients while also supporting supervised clinical education for audiology students.
In the second semester, faculty “lengthen the leash and let you start leading appointments, with the supervisor next to you for any questions,” says Sanchez. Towards the end of the year, the mentor audiologist watches through a one-way mirror.
In the second year, students start community rotations, essentially volunteering as clinicians at schools and in audiology clinics in hospitals and private practices. After finishing their third year, students do a one-year externship, whether in Utah or elsewhere.
Clinic Serves Adults, Miners and Pediatric Patients
The patient base at the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic is largely adult. Around 60% of the clinic’s intake are retired miners referred to the clinic through a long-standing arrangement with the Miners Hospital at the University of Utah.
Miners’ ears are often far from textbook. “Some of them have scarring from super loud noise exposure that burst their eardrums,” Oliver says.
John Whicker, AuD, hopes to see more children at the clinic. He’s developing a pediatric program geared “more on the rehabilitative side of pediatric audiology, where we’re helping kiddos to get the technology they need and learn to navigate and use their technology and optimize their listening skills,” he says. He’s excited to have a dedicated space where audiology students can master skills working with children.
Patient’s Hearing Improved From Muffled to Clear as a Bell
Whether child or adult, the impact of regaining hearing is profound. News photographer Steve Griffin had retired by the time he went to the clinic to see Rasmussen about ear-related vertigo.
Griffin has had tinnitus for as long as he can remember. It masked his deteriorating hearing. But in recent years his hearing had become a problem for him and his wife, Kristan Jacobsen. When she would say his name standing behind him in the grocery line, Griffin couldn’t hear a word she said. He found cheap hearing aids that helped, but when Rasmussen fitted him for a better-quality hearing aid programmed to Griffin’s specific hearing loss, he was amazed at the difference.
“Without the hearing aid, I felt like I was underwater,” Griffin explains. “With them, it’s clear as a bell.”
Jacobsen was as pleased as her husband. “It changes everything,” she says. “It’s like the old times where I can talk, and he can hear!"
From Training to Professional Practice
As Oliver finishes her first year of doctoral audiology study, her ambitions for a fourth-year externship are crystallizing. She wants to either live in Vegas with her parents while externing at a local audiology clinic or live with Baba and work at Cleveland Clinic. Baba’s reliance on her cochlear implant to connect her with the world is a constant reminder for Oliver of why she went into audiology.
The recently married Sanchez is always ready to help his family in any way with hearing issues or questions. He plans to extern at Peak Ear, Nose & Throat in Lehi and Provo. He says he’s grateful for the Audiology faculty. "They gave me the space to go for anything that I’ve dreamed of and have tried their best to support me along the way."