Starkey University and the Next Generation of Hearing Care Professionals

Three up-and-coming hearing healthcare professionals share their thoughts on the future of the industry and what excites them the most about it. Recorded during Starkey University week on the Starkey campus, Dave talks with Andrew Setrum, Janna Hines Orr, Hailey Kingsbury and Starkey’s own Cassie Billiet. We encourage hearing healthcare professionals of any age to take a listen and be reminded about what inspired you to get involved in this industry. You can also learn about more Starkey learning opportunities at StarkeyPro.com.

Link to full transcript.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Audiology is a relatively small field, and we want to make it more accessible to people to pursue. And by showing people the opportunities out there, that's how we can start really showing high schoolers and stuff. No, there's a future in audiology for you. Like look at where you can go and what you can do, and this is how we're going to support you to get there.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Welcome to Starkey Soundbites. I'm your host Dave Fabry, Starkey's Chief Hearing Health Officer. This month we're excited to host nearly 200 audiology students and nine faculty here at our global headquarters in Eden Prairie for the Starkey University Workshop. It's an opportunity for students to engage in hands-on activities like impression taking, hearing from industry leaders, and networking with their peers. While they're here, we wanted to get their perspectives on the future of the industry and their journeys really in audiology to this point. And so I'm so excited to welcome several of the students to our studio for this special episode. Before we dive in, a quick note to our listeners. If you have topics that you'd like to hear about, please send us an email at soundbites at Starkey.com. We'd also invite you to rate, review, and follow this podcast to make sure you don't miss a single episode. Thanks in advance. Now, back to our fantastic guests. First up, I want to introduce Cassie Billiet. She's an audiologist on the team here at Starkey and the director of education and audiology. This has really been your brainchild, and you've been hosting for the week. So Cassie, thank you for being here today on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

Yeah, thanks for having me, Dave.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

You bet. Um, next I want to uh go to Andrew Setram, uh is a third-year student, uh Doctor of Audiology student at Pacific University in Hillsborough, Oregon, where you will graduate in a couple weeks. Yep, about two or three weeks. Congratulations. Uh nearly. You're on the threshold. So that's great. Thank you. Um he's currently completing his externship at uh M Health Fairview Clinics and Surgery Center in Minnesota, where you're completing that, and then you're going to transition into a new role after that or the next stage on this?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Yep, I'll be joining M Health Fairview up at their Northland Clinic um up in Princeton, Minnesota, and starting in about November.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Fantastic. So native Minnesotan did some undergrad work at the University of Wisconsin, my home state. Great. And then also uh we're out in Oregon and then returning back to the tundra, where you plan to stay for the near future.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yes, for the near future for sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Fantastic. Next I'll go to uh Jana Hines Orr, uh, who was the 2023 to 2024 president for the Student Academy of Audiology. Uh and uh you have graduated from Washiu. And uh and now you're you've just finished your fourth year?

SPEAKER_03 2:45

Yes, I finished um back in May.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Back in May. And so what's next?

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Um so actually this weekend I'm moving from Houston to Florida um to um start a job at Namor's Children's Health in Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Wonderful. That's fantastic. Wow, uh, and that we share that a little bit. Uh Nemours had a relationship in uh with uh Mayo Jacksonville, and I was part of the Mayo Rochester uh campus for about 15 years of my career, probably close to as long as you've been alive. Uh and I and that brings me to our third participant, Haley Kingsbury, uh uh a fourth year uh AUD who is now uh serving an externship at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. So we've got uh Jacksonville, Scottsdale, Rochester. Nemours is not Mayo, but uh uh Haley, thank you for being here. You're a student at the University of Iowa.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Yes, that's correct.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

And uh you're also a fourth year?

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yes, fourth year, and just finished up with National Nisla, my term there.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

That's fantastic. And uh and then what's next for you?

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Um, so finishing this year up at Mayo Clinic, and then we'll see where life takes me after that. But just started this past June. So six weeks in. Oh, yep, six weeks in, we have a long way to go.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

By fire, right? Yes. I know from having been uh uh I was an extern back in the day when the master's degree was the first professional degree for me in the previous millennium, and uh and I had the privilege of uh being uh we used to call them two-week wonders at Mayo because they wouldn't take for an entire semester, but you'd just go and immerse yourself into two weeks of uh whirlwind. And then I was fortunate enough to do my clinical fellowship year, as we called them at that time. And so wonderful place to uh to have the opportunity to continue your education. And so I'm really glad to have the three of you here today uh to participate in this discussion. And uh, but but first I do want to go to Cassie and have her tell us a little bit about uh Stark University. You know, uh what's been the story behind it, why are we having it, and uh uh and how's it been going?

SPEAKER_04 4:47

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Stark University has been around, as you know, Dave, for a couple of decades, um, taking on different forms, of course, but really the mission overall has been to support the future of our profession, making sure that we can support the students throughout their careers as they're starting out, making sure that they have good connections with other professionals and mentors. Um, so we've developed the program in many different ways. I know COVID, as it did for everyone, kind of took a hit to things and we had to say, oh, we got to push pause for just a minute here. Uh, but this year now, bringing back the program in a big way, we've got the workshop happening this weekend, all the students' energy here. It's been a lot of fun, and we're just really excited to see where we can take it in the future.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Yeah, I love this group. As I said, we've got almost 200 um people here, and uh just the engagement on campus, the energy is infectious. And for me, I shared in my presentation yesterday that when I first became an audiologist in 1983, uh one of my professors had said, you know, hey, congrats on entering the field, but but boy, I don't see much future for this. And it's like the last 40 years plus now have been a wild ride, and I'm just as excited today for where you are in your careers versus where I now sit on the other end. I'm realizing I'm older than that professor who uh who gave me that uh sobering news when I was ready to graduate, and I thought, thanks a lot. But uh I just think it's a really exciting time, and the energy on the campus has been infectious the last several days. One of the things you mentioned, Cassie, I think really is we're not doing this to replicate what you're getting in your program. It's really to augment what uh with some of the areas that we have the opportunity as a manufacturer, and then certainly as a manufacturer committed to customization uh and custom ear molds and things like that to really help um fill in the gaps if there are any in your program. And to that, I'd really like to go um to the students and and share maybe some of your initial impressions of Starkey U in the past couple days. I know it's still fresh in your mind, but um, anyone wanna wanna take a first shot at that? And I'd love to hear from each of you.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

For sure. Yeah, I can speak first to that. I think what's been really valuable, as you said, it augments the experience that you get in your program. Um, so when we're going through these hands-on learning rotations, I had modifications yesterday and being in that lab, it really made me realize all of the things that you can do with the hearing aids within your own clinic, because a lot of times we're like, okay, just send it back to the manufacturer. And it makes you realize how much you are actually capable of. Um, so I think that was a really great learning experience, something that was super impactful to me. But then overall, just the experience of being here, it's the people that make the experience, then all the students that we've been able to interact with, as well as the people here with Stark. You've just made it a very memorable weekend.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Well, thank you, Haley. Um, Jenna, Andrew, um, your thoughts?

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Yeah, I can go next. Um, so this weekend has um been a very valuable experience. Um, when seeing students again, it's been a few months since I've been around students and also um the networking opportunities. But what I've really been enjoying here is going behind the scenes. So yesterday I took the technology tour, um, which is something that I really enjoyed because I like seeing how um hearing aids are tested, um, and you know, seeing some of the demonstrations um that they presented to us. And then also on that first evening when we're when we were here, the production tours. I like to know what happens once we send in a form, like what goes into making um a hearing aid, what goes into um creating those custom orders. So it was really cool to be able to see all that and now really understand um, you know, what goes on, what the patient and what we typically do not see.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Well, thank you for that. Um I it's really nice to hear the shout out to the engineers and audiologists who uh and the production team that have their day jobs, but many of them just jump at the opportunity to participate in those tours because they often don't get the same experience to interface with audiologists and hearing instant specialists and and patients. And uh, and so it's really a treat for them to be involved in this, but it really does come out of uh their time that they would otherwise be working on helping to develop the next generation of products. So thank you for for identifying that. Was there a favorite demo that you saw on either the production tour or the um tech center tour?

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Um yes, um, when we went into the room of I I cannot remember um the torture chamber for hearing aids. Yes. So I I really want to be able to do that. Exactly. And so I just like seeing all of the different devices and um I don't even know what to call them, like the immersion tubes and the different um chigam bobs that you have to um do to these hearing aids to prove that they are stable and that they are durable. I just really enjoyed looking at that.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Well, well, thank you for that because it it really is nice. And and and I can tell you from the team, they really put a lot of effort into um uh to trying to show under the hood uh nothing against any of the other. I I think the RD team, we we have a lot of fun, we work very hard, but the quality team um has my favorite job because they basically their job is to think of ways to destroy our hearing aids or put them in in the position of how patients will use and abuse their devices. If there's a standard that exists, we try to exceed that standard. If there is no standard, we'll try to develop, as you said, the torture chamber test to uh uh put them through their paces. So thank you for that. Andrew?

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Um I was on the tour with Jana as well, and I I just really appreciated seeing kind of again like behind the scenes, like, okay, it does actually take a very long time to get these hearing aids up to the specifications that all the companies are willing to send them out and be proud of the product that they're sending out. It's like, yes, we are comfortable with having a patient wear this for 10, 12 plus hours a day, for five, eight, 10, however many years they're able to well well keep care of their hearing aids. And it just kind of brings back like, yes, this is a useful thing that we can actually provide for patients in the future. And it's kind of nice to see like everyone cares about the product that is going out that is helping with the patient care.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Thank you. Yeah, and I I like to say on the tech center, um, you're getting to see audiologists and engineers in their natural work environment. And I ask you never to disturb them. Um only kiddingly, but uh um we have about 500 members of our uh RD team uh and the uh audiology clinical research team in the tech center building, and it's not an exaggeration to say that every single one of them impacted uh Genesis AI in some way or another. And so it's fun to be able to show off our facilities a little bit and pleased that it made an impact on you and thank you for that. How about what's been a favorite session that you've had in the auditorium beyond some of the breakout sessions?

SPEAKER_03 12:16

I would have to say um it was the um audiologist panel this morning. Um I think it's very valuable um both as a new grad and as the students who are coming in new to see the different avenues of audiology because it's so easy to get pigeonholed into something that's um just a standard or something that's always been there. But audiology is something where if you see that there's a need, you can create your own pathway and figure out how to um solve that need. And so I think all of the audiologists that we saw this morning um saw something like that and created their own pathways in order to have that job and the life that they wanted.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

I I I think you stated it so well. I mean, it's like there isn't just one path and one journey, and I'm gonna go in a moment to your professional journeys because we all I love hearing the origin stories as to what drew you into this profession. You you talked in the intro about where you are now, but uh, unless does anyone else want to offer a favorite session uh from the last couple days, or shall we just dive right into your origin stories?

SPEAKER_00 13:20

I mean, I really like the audiology panel also this morning. It just gives that insight on okay, looking into it in the future, you have options if, say, for some reason, like, you know what, I'm just tired of doing this. You can move on and try to find something else that you really enjoy, or just a slight tweak in things that can help really improve also your work life balance, because I know that's really important for a lot of people, as well as just general meeting with friends and colleagues that you get to meet with over the years, as audiology is a very small profession, but there is so much you can do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

I had to echo what both of them said. That was my um favorite session that we had in the auditorium because I think it really showed the field is not stagnant. It's a young field and it's constantly pushing forward. And we got to hear all these great ideas this morning from like the Fetch Lab at University of Cincinnati to like mobile private practice clinics, um, and even more seeing what like a research job looks like within industry. So I think it is exciting to see that, okay, there is a really big and bold future for the field, and you don't have to contain yourself to one area. So constantly seek out those new opportunities.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Absolutely. And Brandon said it yesterday: don't be complacent just because a path doesn't exist for what you want to do. I can tell you from personal experience too. Um, the people that were my mentors when I came into the profession all typically went into one role and stayed there for their career. The traditional generation worked in one place for their entire career. I've been a bit different from a lot of boomers in my generation in that I have moved a little bit more because I wanted to create my own path. You, I think, represent the next generation of being able to choose multiple journeys and um and and find your own way. And I agree, there's there's a lot of opportunity, even from focus on hearing aids, even within the amplification area, focused on hearing aids, or we talked yesterday a little bit about sound gear as a way to raise awareness for preventing hearing loss before it occurs. And I know people that have focused on music and prevention um uh as a way of not getting on the back end where we're fixing, uh uh doing the best we can with hearing aids, cochlear implants, et cetera, but rather focused on preventing loss. But now I do want to turn to each of you and and talk a little bit about your origin story. What was the catalyst that drew you into audiology at the start? Who wants to go first?

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Okay, sure. I can go first. Um, so I was attracted to the field of like speech language pathology and audiology really from quite a young age. My family laughs when I was younger. I said I wanted to be a Miss Sandy, like by the age of four, because I went to speech therapy starting at the age of three all the way up to the age of 10. And I think it was kind of with that field, you saw the care that they really show for everyone that they're working with and the power of communication. So I was drawn into that. And then really audiology stood out to me. I knew kind of entering into my undergrad, okay, I think audiology is for me. But after I learned some American Sign Language, and then I did a few observations and helped in the university clinic, I was like, okay, there's no going back from audiology. And so that just really sold it for me. And all of the research in that area, especially for me, is of a lot of particular interest. And so I think it's just all the excitement around it, as well as I like how it combines that scientific grounding, as well as it's really patient focused and focused on. I know we've heard this a few times before, but the quality of life and the power of communication and getting to interact with people in that way and make an impact on their life in that way. So that's kind of how I got there. And now I'm um one of three girls, and all of us are in the field of audiology now.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

No kidding. Oh, no, that's good. I've done back in the day, I was editor of audiology today and I looked at multi-generational families, but that's the first time I've heard where three siblings are all in the field. So kudos to you. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

None of my parents' grandparents were in the field or anything. Um, so we all just stumbled into it.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

That's a first. That's great. And where are you in the in the birth order? I'm the middle child. In the middle, okay. Excellent. So you you were right in there taking up the lead from your older sister.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

So you know, sandwich between the two. Terrific. Who wants to go next?

SPEAKER_03 17:50

So with me, um, I started out on when I started school, I was saying, I'm going to become a neonatologist. Um, and things just wasn't working out, going that route. Um, so I went back home and um obtained my associates in early care and education because I knew for a fact I wanted to work with children. I just didn't know in what capacity, in what field. Like I just couldn't figure it out. Um, so when I went back to get my bachelor's um after working in some preschools, um, some speech pathologists would come in and work with the kids there. And I was like, oh, well, that looks pretty cool. So I joined a uh communication sciences and disorders program. And I remember we did a project comparing speech pathology with audiology. And that's exactly the moment I fell into audiology. It was my first time like really ever being exposed to it and hearing about it because I didn't know. I thought if people couldn't hear, they just went to their primary care physician and they did something. You know, you just the visibility wasn't there in my community. But um, once I did the project, that I was audiology through and through. And so I've just stuck to it since then.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

And Moore's is going to be a wonderful opportunity for you to continue that emphasis on pediatrics. Exactly. And bringing in a diverse uh patient load with that. So what a wonderful next step for you. Yes. Andrew, you're up.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Um, how I got into audiology was it's kind of like a multi-part story. I knew I wanted to do audiology about my sophomore year of high school. I had started taking American Sign Language where I was able to take three years worth of it. But I really got into the field of communication science and disorders knowing that I wanted to do that back actually kind of in kindergarten. I'd have a friend of mine that we're still friends with today that has some pretty severe communication deficits. Um, he has autism and Down syndrome together. Um, and as growing up in classes or lunch or like school assemblies, I was always next to him, making sure that he had the ability to communicate to at least somebody and being that difference and um just making sure that he had at least someone he could communicate with. Um and as I got into sixth grade where we did our small graduation ceremony as you do in elementary schools for some people do, um, I was able to voice a story on behind uh for his behalf. And it just really has always stuck with me. Um, I try to see him as much as I can. Um, it's the last couple of years has been a little harder being out of state quite a bit, but definitely have through that time been able to stay connected with the family. And um, the family is awesome too. He's got an older brother and a younger brother that have been um kind of like it's just been a family, just all of us together, which has been really cool. And then as we've gone through high school, it's always saying hi as you see him in the hallway, um, or again, trying to make sure that he's at events that we're able to go and do. Um, he uses an AAC device to communicate now, and it's amazing to see the progress that he's made from back in elementary school to where he is now. It's just been really rewarding just to see his journey as well as then having it develop into my journey as well. Where with the sign language aspect, I um got into undergrad with the CSD program at the University of Wisconsin River Falls, and having the mentors there as well saying, yeah, you can do this, and having other classmates as well that were going into audiology and just being that reinforcement of yes, this is definitely something that people need help with, and communication is key. If you can't communicate, what's kind of the point of having a decent quality of life if you're not able to talk to anybody?

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Thank you each for sharing these stories. Fun fact that each of you at an early point in your career decided that professional commitments were important, and each of you have served as presidents of a national student uh school of audio or student audiology association. Easy for you to say. Um so Jana has been of SAA, uh Haley, as you said in the intro. Nishla and SADA for Andrew. So, what prompted you, and it's really inspirational, that early on in your career you recognized it's not just about you and getting through that educational component, but already at such an early professional age, if you will, to respond to that call for taking on a leadership role in an organization. Why?

SPEAKER_03 22:24

So for me, both of my parents have always been involved with professional organizations, especially my mom. She works in the medical field. And so there are a lot of meetings that she would go to, board meetings and stuff to stay involved and continue her education with her program. But with me, I um started an SAA chapter in undergrad. And that was kind of like my catalyst into going into the national organization. Because once I started my graduate program, I began volunteering for the national level as well as working with my local chapter. And once I started volunteering, I was like, okay, I can become a chair. So I um ran for the board and I won and then eventually moved up the president as I kept running for the board. And it's been an experience. It's one of my favorite experiences throughout grad school. Just the connections that I've made, um, working with all the people, being able to go to the conferences. I feel like being a part of the professional organization allowed us to have that stronger voice, kind of like how we talked about advocacy yesterday. Um, you really saw how you could make an impact and a change, even as a student. Like that didn't matter. It's about getting involved and learning what you can do and showing up where you can.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

100% agree. And just it's taking that first step and figuring out how it is uh to become involved. Uh and also I assure you that the connections that you've made during your tenure now, you will continue to bump into these people because people that busy people are the ones you go to to participate on professional associations. And as busy as you've all been as students, I assure you that those other people who are busy and still raise their hand are going to be the ones who continue to do so in the future. Haley, how about you?

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yeah, so I found at National NISLA at the end of my first year of grad school. And I was highly involved with my program and my surrounding community, my first year of grad school. And my research mentor, Dr. Beth Walker, was like, I think you should look and try to do something more. Kind of look outside of the University of Iowa, outside of the Iowa City community, see how you can have a bigger impact. Because I think it's something as students, we think my voice doesn't quite matter yet. It's when I become a professional that it matters. And she was like, absolutely not the change that you want to see starts now. And so I applied for National NISLA, something that was kind of completely unknown and overwhelming at first for me. I had known a few people who had really gained a lot from it. And as Janice said, with like national SIA, it is by far the most impactful and best experience I had in grad school. So I had the opportunity, my second year to serve as president-elect, and then my third year as president. And the people that you meet there are just the most brilliant, most impactful, and also the most inspiring people. You get to meet students from all across the country that really make you want to strive to do more for the field and realize, no, we can make change because, as we've said before, if not me, then who? And so that's what really drove me into that position. And I could not be more grateful for the experiences I had with everyone there.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

That's terrific. And in your case, it was really your research advisor that served as that catalyst, that mentor to say that. And and in in the case of your parents and especially your mother, Janna, being involved and recognizing that and modeling that behavior for you, those both served as the the instigator for getting involved. Andrew, how about you?

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Um for me, I've been involved with the student organizations throughout undergrad and actually all three of them now in some aspect and still am. And I'm really happy about that. I'm able to, as well as give my input on some things that are happening and help be that voice and help guide other students as well that are looking to get into some of the positions that we have all been able to hold and show them that yes, you can do that. You can be the voice that helps drive your future on what that's gonna look like. And being a part of SATA, it's allowed me to meet a bunch of wonderful individuals on top of going to many of the different conferences all of our um professional organizations have provided, and just being able to network with both students, professionals, researchers that may not even necessarily be in audiology, but they're doing something related to our field. And it's just getting able to know people and be like, oh, and you go back and you read, say, a white paper a couple years down, they're like, oh, like I know the face, and it's like you can kind of touch base with people. And having that ability to make those connections has been really impactful for myself as well as I feel for a lot of people around me.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Yeah, and and indeed, and that comes through in your comments. And the you talked about the networking and and meeting other professionals. Was there a specific skill that maybe was unanticipated that you acquired as uh during your presidency or during your term in participating to this point for any of you?

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Delegation. Um, I will definitely see that one. Yeah. My delegation skills definitely grew from my beginnings as a committee chair to presidency because you need to be able to delegate and delegate effectively. And with that came communication skills. Because in order for everyone to be able to do their jobs, you needed to be able to communicate what needed to be done, when it needed to be done, and then know how to follow up and do check-ins without micromanaging. And I think it's the fine line and a balance that came with that. And I was able to learn that through SAA.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

For sure. I would say for me, it was definitely the networking aspect and then advocacy. Because as a student, when you are going to these conferences with our parent professional organizations or just meeting the mentors of your parent professional organization, these are the big leaders of the field. And you're like, oh my goodness, like I'm having to talk with you, like there's no way you want to talk with me. But realizing that you do have a place in that conversation and just being able to share your voice with those people. And that experience, then, as we mentioned yesterday in our talk about kind of advocacy action, getting to talk with those professionals then prepared me for talking with my legislators and taking advocacy action there. Because that's something as a student, as we said, not my role, not my place, but it is your role and your place, and gaining those skills to be comfortable, to speak up there and be more well-versed in those areas.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

For sure. And then you've each commented, you know, you're initially thinking as a student, what can I, how can I add? What can I do? But I think it's a critical time because otherwise you're listening to a bunch of old people like me say about the way things were, but the environment is different. And, you know, the the one that is constantly uh amazing to me is just I I I I won't even tell you how little I funded all my education, but it was a heck of a lot less expensive when I was a student than what you kind of are dealing with now. And and I think, you know, you have to remind us boomers, okay boomer, uh, about you know the the different environment. I I was fortunate to go to school during a time when DOE and and research grants were far more available than they are now, and that helped offset the high cost of tuition. And uh and so I I applaud each of you for taking the initiative to be involved in leadership positions so early in your career, and I know that that will carry through because it's addictive, right? When you know addictive, not in a not in a bad way. It's addictive because you know you can make that impact. Is there any words of wisdom that you have for just others looking uh if they don't have a parent or uh a research mentor or you know, uh some sort of catalyst for this? How do they get involved? Any advice that you have for people at your contemporaries?

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Um, I feel all three of our organizations do a really good job of making resources available for students. Doesn't matter which organization they may or may not be a part of, even if you are not a part of an organization, we are still willing to help students get involved in the advocacy efforts that are happening with our field as the only constant is change.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

And we are seeing a very bright future for the future of audiology, but we need to have somebody that's there, whether that's you, yourself, whether it's a classmate, hopefully everybody, to help guide that change that is inevitably happening.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Well, I want to now come back to you personally. Are you somebody that says, here's my five-year plan, here's my 10-year plan, or are you a little more less fair to say, here's my plan to to this next career opportunity? How do you look at and plan out your future from this point?

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Um, very interesting question. So um since I started grad school right in 2020, right when COVID hit, I reeled in um having five-year plans um just because of expectations. I'm like, oh, well, the world could change it. Everything just goes out the window. I also got married right at 2020. So I saw what happens when the ball just drops, right? Um, so um for me, um it really became a lesson in um going with the flow. Um so I know that, you know, I'm gonna be starting to work in the fall, but I also know that I want to stay involved with the academy and are and have already made the steps for that. Um I know that staying involved with the audiology community in different forms, such as the academy or at work, lends itself to other opportunities in the future. It's one of those things like, yes, I've graduated, but keeping my ear to the ground to see what else could be out there because you don't want to be stagnant, um, I believe Haley said earlier. You um, and that's and that type of thing becoming stagnant is a consequence of your own actions. So, how can I keep furthering my education? What opportunities are still out there? Um, what can I pursue as a professional so that I am always elevating and never just staying in one place?

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Excellent. Well said. Anyone have anything to add to that?

SPEAKER_01 33:02

I would echo a lot of what Janna said with being open to those new opportunities. So I'm in my externship year right now. I don't really know where I'm going to be after this, but I think that's the exciting part. You have your goals of what you would like to do. Um, like, for example, I'm interested in cochlear implants. I like research. I would love to be a clinical professor who knows about like PhD, things like that. But I don't want to close myself off from any opportunities at this point because I am open to so many different areas. And as we said from the panel this morning, the field is very vast. And just seeing where life can take you by okay, being dedicated, working hard, but then also seeing where these opportunities may open up and being willing to go in that direction.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

I think you've each highlighted uh several points like this. I think in and thinking about it from an audiological practice perspective, it's like the difference between best practice and innovation. If you adhere to best practice based on what's been done in the past, you can sometimes uh uh lose uh become complacent or lose sight by focusing on that need for best practice on new tools. I can tell you that when I became an audiologist, we didn't have real ear measurements as a tool. Admittance was uh primitive compared to some of now, auto-acoustic emissions. You have to be open and in the same way, different pathways may open to you that you didn't expect. And certainly none of you expected, as none of us expected the pandemic to sort of derail uh a well-intentioned plan at the beginning. So I think combining that need for planning, but then also the need to be nimble, I think is is great advice. So um what would you say, each of you, uh what are you most excited about for the future of audiology? You you've highlighted some practice areas, you've highlighted some things, but is there something else that uh that you would give to uh uh someone contemplating going into uh uh their AUD uh or starting out in the program versus now completing it, uh, or just something that you see as particularly exciting about the future of audiology?

SPEAKER_01 35:16

I I like that the field isn't stagnant, um, as we mentioned. And so I think that we really emphasize that innovation and that research from everyone and the ideas that they have. Um, I think particularly when you look at how far, like even implantables have come in the past few decades and where they're going with fully implantable devices and things like that. I think it's really exciting to see, okay, how can this expand and in what way? And ultimately, how can we make patient care better? Because there has to be a purpose and a reason behind the research. Um, in a class that I taught, we said you don't do research for the sake of research. You have to do it for the sake of bettering something, whether it's educating the public or it's trying to make something a better patient experience. You want to make sure that there's a drive behind that. And I want that to be the same thing behind the clinical care provide. So I think that's like the big thing in saying, okay, we're going to constantly push in these areas and see how can we make these devices better? How can it open up in those ways? And I think that's truly exciting in that aspect. And also when you think, okay, the interstate compact and thinking about virtual opportunities with audiology, how that may make things more open and accessible and really invite more people into the field as well. Because audiology is a relatively small field and we want to make it more accessible to people to pursue. And by showing people the opportunities out there, that's how we can start really showing high schoolers and stuff, no, there's a future in audiology for you. Like look at where you can go and what you can do. And this is how we're going to support you to get there.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

What are you excited for, Jana, in terms of the discipline?

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Um, I am excited for growth. Um, I do feel like there are a lot of opportunities with remote care. Um, so I just finished up my externship um at the Texas Hearing Institute in um Texas. As you know, Texas is a large state, it's huge. And with that, that means that there are a lot of people in areas where it is not easy to find an audiologist. Um, and finding a pediatric audiologist is just almost impossible unless you're next to an urban center. And so um, some of the only ways that we can reach those patients is by remote care. So while I was at um THI, one of the um programs that was started there was a remote ABR program. Um and I actually um presented a poster about it um at AAA. But I feel like um within the USA as a whole, we could reach so many more people once we start expanding our remote opportunities. Um, and I know that, of course, that comes with more uh advocacy when it comes to coding and reimbursement and how we're gonna get that. But um I just feel like there's so many more opportunities to grow as we um have more technological advances, um, as well as the world is not getting any more quieter, is getting more noisy by the minute. So as we've already discussed, there are the hearing, the noise-induced hearing loss is happening younger and younger. So we had to be available in order to um combat that public health issue.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Yep. And it's absolutely an important public health issue. We Andrew, any final uh on this topic?

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Um I'd say, in addition, I think the thing I'm most excited about is just the horizon that we're seeing with the access to care to the telehealth coming through with um the pandemic, as well as people being more willing to see that change happen in our field. I feel like we've had some stagnant periods throughout the history of audiology, and I feel like people are starting to embrace that yes, we are changing, and we need everybody to get on board so that we can make that change happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

And around here we say it the art and science of hearing and balance care. Uh, it's important to, and I love the technology, but ultimately the one thing I've learned in the different places that I've had the privilege of working is that if you focus on the needs of the patient, um, you will always in the long run win. It's not about just what's convenient and best for us, but focusing on what the patient needs as well. I want to um transition to uh as we as we get ready to close here, this discussion has been fascinating, but some rapid fire questions for you. And I'm going to include Cassie in this too. Um, but so we'll start. But but first, Cassie, I do want to get a highlight before we close and go to the rapid fire on any upcoming uh events that we have for Starkey University. Um, in, you know, we we've just had the workshop and completed that here, but what's coming?

SPEAKER_04 40:05

Yeah, we're hoping more in-person workshops. This has been a great success. It seems like the students have really enjoyed coming here and all the experiences. So we're hoping to continue with that. We also have a virtual series, we call it Starkey University series, different topics. A couple that we did this year, we had one on social media. Um, we had our manager of social media here at Starkey do the session and talked about, you know, how do you make the right LinkedIn profile and what's appropriate? What should we be thinking about? So that was really interesting. One and we also had another on how to write a resume. How do I answer questions appropriately when I'm interviewing and thinking about my first job? So different topics throughout the year, and that's a great opportunity for students to join us as well. We do have some things on our pro site. We have a student and faculty page actually where you can go and get some additional information. What's the link for that? Um, so it's it's just our Starkeypro.com. And then if you click, there's a page that says students and faculty, and it'll bring you right to the information. But we want to make sure that students have access to a listener that's made for their ear. So we have a welcome kit when you're a new student and you're able to get an ear impression and send that in, and we'll make a listener for you. We have other educational things like a tinnitus handbook or a hearing aid modifications guide, things like that that are resources as you're starting to work with patients. So we're hoping to continue over the next few months here to expand what we have available for students, but also for faculty. Of course, they're inspiring and training our next generation of audiologists. So we want to make sure we have resources for them as well. We do offer a technology kit. So providing some of our Starky products for hands-on opportunities or for their students to learn how to program hearing aids. So that's been really fun as well. We offer for faculty to have speakers if they're looking for someone to maybe join their amplification class and talk about compression or specific topics. We're happy to send a speaker to them as well. So we have an opportunity for faculty to fill out a form if they would like to request a speaker. So we're excited. We've got a lot of really great things happening with Starkey University.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

That's great. You've done such a great job in organizing this and putting it in that Starkey Pro website location under faculty and students. So stay tuned for coming events in activities. So now let's go to the lightning round, and I'll go to you first. I'll go back to you first to uh because we haven't given you these in advance. So uh just quick answers. But uh Cassie, what's your favorite specialty area in audiology?

SPEAKER_04 42:35

Ooh, I have to say central auditory processing.

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

Um I would probably say cochlear implants. Pediatrics.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

I would say a combination between hearing aids and cochlear implants.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

Excellent. Yeah, lots of advances in both of those areas that have taken place. If you could collaborate with any audiologist or researcher, alive or dead, who would it be?

SPEAKER_00 42:59

Um, I think I would collaborate with Dr. Slice with the University of Minnesota that's been doing a lot of work with um congenital CMV recently, which has also helped the state of Minnesota be the first state to have universal CMV screening, so blood spot screening for the um genetic hearing loss that can help it that can happen for pediatrics.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

I'll put a plug-in for a Soundbites podcast that we did uh earlier this year on the topic of CMV, and also knowing that uh uh I think all three of you have some uh ASL skills, uh at least two of you, but I think all three of you do, and the importance of providing a pathway for whether it's audio or manual or some combination of those. And I think that's an area of responsibility that we can work to advocate to ensure that when parents uh are faced with a child who has CMV and hearing loss, that they they can choose for themselves whether they want to do manual, combined, or audio, uh, the world that they choose to. Living down the road.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

Marion Downs. Honestly, a lot of the mentors I've had to work with, it's been a dream to work with them. So Dr. Beth Walker at University of Iowa. And then right now I'm working with Dr. Michael Savet at Mayo Clinic of Arizona. And so he's just a legend there. And so that's been great. I think there's a lot of great people doing research, like Dr. Caitlin Sapp and Dr. Matt Fitzgerald. So the future's bright and a lot of people are fun to collaborate with. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 44:29

I would say Dr. Nina Krause, because again, I'm kind of a neuroscience geek at heart. So she's amazing. She's got her Brain Volts Lab, and I would love to collaborate with her. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Great, great uh names all. And for me, it's a trip down memory lane because I've had the opportunity to either work with or uh be influenced by all of them. Uh okay, so connectivity is a part of audiology these days. Are you team Android or uh iPhone?

SPEAKER_03 44:55

iPhone for me. I'm an Android user. I am also an Android user.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

I am an iPhone user. Okay, 50-50 draw, and I'll break the tie with iPhone.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

But uh best piece of advice you've received from a professor or mentor to this point in your career.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Um, I would say you never know until you try. So it's always good to give something an effort on you gotta try it once. If you don't like it, great. You don't have to do it again, but you at least gotta try before just shutting something down.

unknown 45:27

Or just shutting something.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Don't pigeonhole yourself.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Um, know the purpose behind what you're doing as an audiology student. You're not just a button presser. You should know the purpose of those buttons. You know so much more than you know, and keep asking those big hard questions. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 45:43

I'm gonna say we had a poster in our lab when I was in grad school and it said every expert was once a beginner. And I was like, oh, that's really cool because you're you're always gonna be at the beginning of learning, but there's so much more to learn. So never stop learning and continue that path throughout your career.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

Love it. Uh mine was uh two ears, one mouth, epitictus. Uh, but also my mentors and my dad used to tell me that all the time because I'm a talker. Okay. How about uh coffee, tea, or something else during late night study nights or a long clinic day?

SPEAKER_04 46:17

I'm gonna be a boring person here and say I don't drink coffee. And everyone's usually like, what? You don't drink coffee? I don't, and I don't drink tea really either. So when I would have a late night study session, I probably would be drinking water.

SPEAKER_01 46:31

I am both coffee and tea. So I carry at least three drinks into my externship site every day.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

Um tea during the day, coffee at night.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Oh, well, that'll change when you get old.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Um, and I'm kind of with Cassie where I don't really do any sort of caffeine if I can. Um, and then I'd say I'd probably do pizza, maybe more of easy.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

For me, it's an IV poll in the morning, but then at noon I cut myself off of any kind of caffeine. Uh what's one skill every audiologist should master?

SPEAKER_03 47:05

Listening.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

I was going to say counseling because audiology is the art. Patients will remember more how you made them feel than what you tried to do on the computer.

unknown 47:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

I would be right along the lines of listening and counseling as well, and just making sure that the patient has a realistic expectation on that. It does take time to get used to hearing aids. It's not just an instant put them on, oh, I can hear everything. It takes a little bit of time to get used to amplification.

SPEAKER_04 47:33

Yeah, I would say two things. Flexibility. We've got to be flexible in all the things that we're doing, but the caring, we we have to care. We have to care about the patient. And if we have that, you know, we're going to be really successful as we're working with them and helping them on their hearing journey.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Yep, you took the word out of my mouth. Caring is something that cannot be commoditized. And I think when I talked about some of my patients yesterday that I continue to see, you don't know your patient until you know your patient. And it's more than the audiogram, it's more than the buttons that you're pushing. And you really have to take the time and effort to understand what their fears are, their concerns are, what are their aspirations out of whatever form of treatment that you're working with. And if you do that, your role can never be commoditized. Uh share a memorable patient success story without uh violating HIPAA that uh has kept you inspired.

SPEAKER_04 48:28

I have one, I guess, from grad school, actually. The one of the first patients that I worked with was an infant, and he was about two months old, and the the family was like, well, we want to, you know, get him hearing aids, go through the whole process. So one of the first patients that I was able to fit with a professor of mine, and they had the family in there, and the little sister was like, twinkle, twinkle, little star, and singing him a song. Then you could just see his eyes open, like, wow, I can hear what she's singing. And it was, it was so fantastic. Amazing moment.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

I also have another pediatric story. Um, so during one of my summers, I did an oral rehabilitation unit. So it was a preschool for children with hearing devices. And the child who I was working with, um, logomorbid conditions, and we were working on language access as a whole. So using an AAC device, bilateral CIs. And then I was providing him signed input as well. So we were doing three forms of communication during the preschool sessions, going between speech language um pathology sessions to group sessions to PT and audiology. So that collaborative approach and seeing him really grow and blossom in towards the end of the program when he was finally able to communicate like a little bit with a few different modes of communication. That was just super impactful.

SPEAKER_03 49:45

My story is a little similar to that. Um, in my second year, I had a rotation, and um, there was a child um who um had some difficulty at the birth. So he was um now in a wheelchair um bilateral cochlear implant user. And um beforehand, you know, the um parents wasn't sure if um he was obtaining any language or anything with the CIs um just because testing was difficult because of his age and um conditions. But um they were doing um some other work um at a specialty center in a different state, and they flew out there to um teach him some eye gazing, and he was able to um land on the syneses and communicate with his parents for the first time.

SPEAKER_00 50:30

Um, I would say I had actually had a recent one that was quite fun. It was a single-sided cochlear implant user that had just gotten activated about two weeks prior and had a holiday weekend, so things were a little bit elongated from where our clinic typically likes to do some mapping and those kinds of things. And she says, like, I can hear, but it I can just hear like the cadence of the speech. She couldn't really understand anything yet. We were able to make some adjustments with her map, do some um changes with some objective measures and subjective measures as well. And then we put the we turned the device on and I just started saying the date, and she's like instantly just turned and it's like I can hear. It was just kind of just interesting to see, like, okay, it's amazing how quickly those types of devices can work with just a simple adjustment as well as allowing the patient to adjust to um getting that difference in stimulation, which was just very unique. I was like, that's fun.

SPEAKER_02 51:32

I love it. Well, uh, we've come to a close of our time here, and uh I knew this would go quickly, and it certainly has. I I really appreciate uh Cassie, your organizing uh Starkey University and uh and bringing the students together because as you know, and we've talked about this, the having the students here, the energy on campus, the challenging uh aspect of you know, people asking us questions of things that we sometimes take for granted. When when you get more experience, you tend to forget the the origins of why we do things and the why behind the how. And uh, and so I really appreciate that you and your team uh at Starkey have done such a masterful job with Starkey University.

SPEAKER_04 52:16

Yeah, thank you. It's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

Yeah, and Haley, uh Jana, and Andrew, I really appreciate your taking the time to talk about your experiences with us today and let us pepper you with questions a little bit. Uh, all I have to say is for me, the future of audiology is you know, I'll quote the old song, the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades because I'm in the presence of people that uh I know are gonna make a huge impact in the field. And I and I thank you for taking the time today to be with us.

SPEAKER_03 52:44

Thanks for inviting us.

SPEAKER_02 52:45

And thank you. Final words of advice for um uh students coming up or the impact that uh this program has had on you, or does it play a role in your education? Do you see programs like this are essential?

SPEAKER_01 52:58

Yeah, for sure. I think it encourages students to ask those big questions. Um, you're a student right now. It's your time to learn, absorb information from others. And so don't feel like you have to know everything. Ask questions and learn from everyone around you.

SPEAKER_03 53:12

Yes, don't shy away from any opportunities. Um, say yes. Say yes.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

Exactly. Yep. Be willing to learn, be present, and just do your best every day to, again, make that difference that we're seeing coming. Thank you all.

SPEAKER_02 53:30

Well, to our listeners, thank you for listening to this special episode of Starkey Soundbites. If you enjoyed this conversation, please rate, review, and share this with your networks, other students who might be interested in the expertise, uh, colleagues that you have. You can listen to this wherever your preferred podcast platform is and share with those friends, colleagues, and networks. You can follow us or hit subscribe and be sure not to miss a single episode. As I mentioned at the onset of this episode, we'd like to know what's on your mind. If you have ideas for future topics, send us an email at soundbites at Starkey.com. We'll be featuring your questions and getting some answers from our Starkey experts on future episodes. See and hear you again really soon. Thank you all.