Support for Research & Scholarship

Affordable & Accessible Hearing Care for Adults: The National Journey

Abstract: With the recognition of hearing loss as a public health priority, one with societal costs and societal responsibilities, adult hearing care has entered a new era. Collective action at the federal level with grassroots efforts from stakeholders, including the research community, paved the way for seismic regulatory change and novel, disruptive, innovative solutions to hearing care. This talk will highlight recent history that led to these changes, including successes and challenges along the way, and consider future opportunities for continued progress.

Bio: Kelly King, AuD, PhD, works for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) in Rockville, Maryland. She is also the chair of the Academy's Continuing Education Committee.

Age-related hearing loss and self-reported hearing difficulty: Findings from a 35-year longitudinal cohort study in Charleston, South Carolina

Abstract: The Medical University of South Carolina Longitudinal Cohort Study of Age-related Hearing Loss is a community-based cohort study in Charleston, SC. The data from this sample of the general population provide a means to improve our understanding of the natural history of hearing loss across the adult lifespan. The baseline examination includes comprehensive measures of hearing, such as audiometry and self-reported hearing difficulty measured using the Revised Hearing Handicap Inventory (RHHI), and demographics, health-, and hearing-related histories including hearing-aid uptake/use and noise exposure. Following the baseline examination, participants attend annual follow-up visits, during which audiometry is measured, and participants update their health- and hearing-related histories. Every 2-3 years after baseline, participants attend follow-up visits where most of the protocol is repeated. Prevalence, incidence, and progression of audiometric hearing loss and associated demographic, health-, and hearing-related factors will be reported, along with generational (birth cohort) differences. Notably, patient-reported outcome measures are an increasingly important component in the comprehensive assessment of functional abilities of individuals with hearing loss. Therefore, comparable findings will be presented for RHHI self-reported hearing difficulty, the influence of demographic factors on the agreement of RHHI and audiometry, and a comparison of their abilities to predict hearing-aid use. Finally, a brief timeline will recount the 35-year history of the longitudinal cohort study. [Work supported by NIH/NIDCD]

Bio: Judy R. Dubno, PhD, is a Distinguished University Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1981.

Back to the Future?: Meaningful Hearing-Aid Outcomes for Adults with Hearing Difficulties

Abstract: Nearly 80 years ago, Carhart (1946a, 1946b) published descriptions of a recommended hearing-aid selection and evaluation process he had developed. The recommended protocol was comprehensive and relied heavily on the hearing-aid wearer's self-reported difficulties and listening experiences but also included the measurement of the speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) in dB for standardized speech materials presented at a comfortable level. More recently, the 2025 report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), entitled "Measuring Meaningful Outcomes for Adult Hearing Health Interventions", recommended the use of three somewhat similar outcome measures. The recommended outcome measures in the NASEM report included two self-report measures and one SNR-based speech-in-noise measure. Whereas Carhart's efforts were truly pioneering and insightful for a brand-new field, they were based on expert opinion and a very limited knowledge base. The NASEM report, on the other hand, made use of available evidence gathered since Carhart's recommendations 80 years ago to support its many important recommendations. The recommended hearing-aid outcome measures in the NASEM report will be reviewed briefly in this presentation, along with evidence supporting those recommendations. Some holes in the evidence base identified in the NASEM report will also be filled based on analyses completed after the publication of this significant report.

Bio: Larry E. Humes is currently distinguished professor in the Department of Speech, Hearing and Language Sciences at Indiana University. Professor Humes has served as associate editor, editor, and editorial board member for several audiology journals. Professor Humes has received the Honors of the Association and the Alfred Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the James Jerger Career Award for Research in Audiology and a Presidential Award from the American Academy of Audiology. He is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and of the International Collegium on Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA). His most recent research activities have focused on age-related changes in auditory perception, including speech-understanding ability, and on outcome measures for hearing aids.

A dimensional framework to shine light on the dark side of audition

Abstract: Dr. Chandrasekaran, an auditory cognitive neuroscientist, employs a systems neuroscience approach to explore the neurobiology of auditory categorization and learning. In this presentation, he shares his personal experience with misophonia, advocating for the field to shift from monolithic diagnostic labels to a dimensional framework grounded in systems neuroscience. This approach addresses the challenges of individual variability, heterogeneity, and co-morbidity in auditory disorders.

Bio: Dr. Chandrasekaran is the Ralph and Jean Sundin Endowed Professor and Chair of the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. His research program employs a systems neuroscience approach to investigate the computations, maturational constraints, and plasticity underlying auditory signals such as speech and music. Over the past two decades, his lab has utilized cutting-edge behavioral, multimodal neuroimaging, and modeling-based approaches to achieve a computational, algorithmic, and implementation-level understanding of how sounds are represented and mapped to behaviorally relevant constructs in the human brain. From a clinical perspective, the SoundBrain Lab hopes to enrich our understanding of the neurocognitive sources of individual differences in speech processing and to develop neurobiologically-informed auditory training protocols for learning impairments and auditory processing deficits.

Sound Sensitivity Disorders: New Perspectives on Mechanisms and Biomarkers

Abstract: Sound is jointly processed along acoustic and emotional dimensions. These dimensions can become distorted and entangled in persons with sensory disorders, producing a spectrum of loudness hypersensitivity, phantom percepts, and – in some cases – debilitating sound aversion. In human subjects, we recently described new approaches to study affective sound processing (doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.22.571929). We found that pupil dilations and facial movement amplitudes scaled with sound valence in neurotypical listeners but not in participants with chronic tinnitus and sound sensitivity. In these participants, emotionally evocative sounds elicited abnormally large pupil dilations but blunted, invariant facial reactions that jointly provided an accurate prediction of individual tinnitus and hyperacusis questionnaire handicap scores. By contrast, EEG measures revealed steeper neural response growth functions but no association with symptom severity. These findings suggested that neural hyper-responsivity, hyperactivity, and hyper-synchrony in central auditory networks can impart disordered sound processing in limbic and autonomic networks that regulate auditory valence and arousal. We have tested this idea in animal models, where we can isolate neural defects underlying loudness hypersensitivity and disordered affective sound processing by recording from genetically targeted cell types in the mouse auditory cortex and lateral amygdala. We recently found that parvalbumin-expressing inhibitory neurons (PVNs) in the mouse auditory cortex provide a volume knob for the perception of loudness, where targeted activation or inactivation of PVNs shifted loudness reporting by +/- 20 dB (doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.30.596691). After noise-induced sensorineural damage in the high-frequency region of the cochlea, mice reported loudness hypersensitivity for spared, mid-frequency sounds and neural hyper-responsivity in the auditory cortex and amygdala. Importantly, activating PVNs in hyperacusic mice completely restored normal loudness perception, even though sensorineural damage in the ear remained untreated. For example, several minutes of PVN stimulation at 40Hz reversed loudness hypersensitivity for up to a week, underscoring the promise of therapies for sound sensitivity disorders that focus on higher stages of the central auditory pathway.

Bio: Dr. Polley is Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery where he serves as the Director of the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Director of the Lauer Tinnitus Research Center, and Vice Chair for Basic Research in the Department of Otolaryngology─Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Polley's research focuses on experience-dependent brain plasticity and its therapeutic applications for hearing loss, sound sensitivity and tinnitus. Specifically, he studies 1) the effects of hearing loss on the central nervous system, 2) the influence of learning and emotion on the neural processing of sound, and 3) new modes of therapy and rehabilitation for chronic tinnitus and auditory hypersensitivity.

Maladaptive learning may contribute to negative responses to sound

Abstract: Chronic pain has been proposed to arise, in part, from maladaptive learning. Here we introduce a potential process by which maladaptive learning may contribute to the escalation of negative responses to sound. We have observed that training on auditory perceptual tasks is particularly effective when periods of task performance (attention directed to the sounds) are combined with periods of stimulus exposure alone (attention directed away from the sounds). However, while this combination can have a robust positive influence on sound perception, it could have a negative influence as well. For example, a person with annoying tinnitus may periodically attend to it--like repeatedly pressing on a bruise to see if it still hurts. The attention may enhance the annoyance on its own, but the continuation of the tinnitus even when the person's attention is elsewhere, could supercharge it. If so, negative responses to a sound could potentially be diminished by reducing the number of periods in which attention with a negative valence is focused on the sound, so as not to feed the negative responses through unattended exposures to the sound. We have also observed that auditory learning can be disrupted when periods of auditory task performance are combined with periods of stimulus exposure alone, if the stimulus exposures are presented during performance of an attention-demanding visual task. This outcome provides another potential route for reducing maladaptive learning that may contribute to negative responses to sound.

Bio: Dr. Wright is Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her research interests include auditory perceptual learning and attention. She studies these topics primarily in young adults with normal hearing, but also in children, adolescents, and older adults, as well as in people with atypical sensory experience (hearing loss) and cognitive background (language and reading disorders).

Misophonia: from personal experience to scientific inquiry

Abstract: In this talk, I will describe how my experiences as a sufferer of misophonia have motivated and informed my research into its neurological bases. I will discuss how the lack of understanding and resources available on the topic have led me to pursue this research path and give personal insights into the challenges and benefits of being a misophonia researcher with misophonia. I will also explain how our lab is actively working to address these gaps by developing tools and making behavioral, physiological, and neuroimaging data available to the broader research community. I will also provide an overview of current research projects, which focus on understanding the attentional and cognitive processes involved in misophonic responses. I will highlight my recent work on the role of voluntary attention in misophonia, examining how attentional processes can be leveraged to mitigate negative reactions to misophonia trigger sounds.

Bio: Ms. Savard is a third-year PhD student in the Psychology (Research) program at Concordia University, Montréal, Canada, co-supervised by Dr. Emily Coffey and Dr. Mickael Deroche. Her research, supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, focuses on the cognitive and neural processes underlying misophonia. Driven by her personal experience with the condition, Marie-Anick's current work examines how attentional processes affect misophonic responses, using behavioral and physiological measures to explore how these responses can be modulated through cognitive strategies.

Hypersensitivity to sound: Personal experiences

Abstract: Abstract coming soon

Bio: Ms. Perekhozhuk is a sophomore at Benet Academy in Lisle, IL. She studies violin with Sang Mee Lee at Music Institute of Chicago and has won prizes at numerous competitions, including the DePaul Concerto Festival, the Sejong and the Granquist Music Competitions, the Society of American Musicians Violin Competition, the American Protégé Music Competition at Carnegie Hall, the Ukrainian Music Festival (Toronto, Ontario), and the talent competition of the USA Ukrainian Diaspora. She has been featured on WFMT's Introductions and given numerous performances for Ukrainian festivals and cultural events. Solo recitals include those at the Redcliffe Senior Centre, the Young Steinway Series at the Skokie Library, and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. Julia has also been a member of Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra for 7 years. In her free time, she enjoys drawing and singing.

Beyond Amplification: Unlocking a Holistic Path to Auditory Wellness

Abstract: Hearing aids, while transformative in addressing hearing loss, are but one aspect of auditory wellness. Adults face challenges extending beyond sound amplification—psychological, social, and communication obstacles that demand a broader approach. Modern hearing care must encompass strategies such as education, counseling, communication techniques, and self-management systems tailored to individual needs. Among these, post-fitting support plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable outcomes. Evidence suggests that individuals who participate in multi-faceted care, including robust post-fitting interventions, achieve greater improvements in quality of life, emotional well-being, and social participation compared to those relying solely on hearing aids. By reviewing the evidence for effective post-hearing aid fitting support, we aim to highlight the importance of integrating these measures into care plans. This holistic framework empowers patients to see hearing loss as a dynamic process, fostering confidence and adaptability. Ultimately, hearing aids should be seen as a cornerstone, not a standalone solution—an integral part of a comprehensive strategy committed to enriching lives and addressing the complexities of hearing loss. Through this lens, auditory wellness becomes an achievable, ongoing pursuit rather than only involving the provision of hearing aids.

Bio: Vice Provost for Strategic Planning, Performance & Accountability (2014-Present) Research focused on development of evidence-based interventions for individuals with hearing loss, current NIH funded studies are: (1) Application of Health Belief Models to Predict Hearing Healthcare Outcomes (2014-2019); and, (2) Aging, Cognition and Hearing Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) Randomized Trial (2017-2022). Disciplinary recognition includes the American Academy of Audiology’s Distinguished Service Award (2011), Ear & Hearing’s Editor’s Award (2016), and membership in the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology.

Community-Driven Models for Accessible Adult Hearing Health Care

Abstract: Access to adult hearing health care is often constrained by workforce shortages, high costs, and centralized service models. To address these barriers, a series of studies have explored community-driven approaches that leverage task-sharing with community health workers (CHWs) and digital technologies to deliver hearing care closer to where people live. This presentation draws on research examining how CHWs, supported by digital tools, can facilitate key aspects of hearing care—from ear and hearing assessments to hearing aid fittings and follow-up support. Using mobile health (mHealth) solutions and over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, these models have proven both feasible and acceptable in real-world settings. Community uptake has been high, and ongoing hearing aid use is encouraging. Tools like AI-supported otoscopy, in-situ audiometry through hearing aids, and WhatsApp-based case discussions with professionals have helped shift care out of clinics and into communities in a safe and person-centered way. The work supports WHO’s call for task-sharing and community-integrated models of care. Beyond expanding access, these approaches offer a roadmap for integrating hearing care into broader health systems—providing a scalable, sustainable way forward for countries looking to close the hearing care gap.

Bio: Professor De Wet Swanepoel, PhD, is a professor of audiology in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria (UP). He is a leading international researcher in teleaudiology, hearing health innovation and new service delivery models.

Disconnects in Pediatric Hearing Care: Bridging the Gaps with Navigation

Abstract: Disconnects in hearing healthcare access and utilization are pervasive and have a deep influence on outcomes. The lack of awareness of these disconnects and the complex challenges in addressing these inequities compromises the quality of hearing healthcare broadly. Furthermore, disconnects in health is a constant threat to patient-centered care. This presentation will provide an overview of current inequities within pediatric hearing healthcare that may negatively impact patient-centered care. Furthermore, this presentation will promote patient navigation as a means to promote timely and effective hearing healthcare.

Bio: Dr. Matthew L. Bush received his medical degree from the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in Huntington, W.Va. He then completed an Otolaryngology research fellowship and a Neurotology and Cranial Base Surgery fellowship at The Ohio State University Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital Research Institute in Columbus. Bush is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology both in Otolaryngology and in Neurotology and Cranial Base Surgery. Bush is actively engaged in clinical research with a special focus on hearing healthcare disparities. He has published multiple peer-reviewed papers on the topic and is supported by the National Institutes of Health. His research and clinical efforts are focused on providing timely access to care for children and adults.

Cochlear Implant Utilization and Access in the US and Strategies for Improving Access in Chicago

Abstract: Despite a substantial population of eligible candidates, cochlear implant utilization remains strikingly low across the United States. This presentation will begin by outlining current estimates of cochlear implant utilization and examining how these figures relate to broader trends in hearing loss diagnosis and audiology service utilization nationwide. The discussion will then shift to the Chicagoland region, exploring key factors that influence local utilization rates. Finally, insights from the early development of a cochlear implant program in the area will be shared, along with reflections on ongoing challenges and opportunities for growth.

Bio: Dr. Kevin Zhan, MD is an ear and lateral skull base surgeon at Northwestern Medicine and an assistant professor of otolaryngology – head & neck surgery. Dr. Zhan hopes to train the next generation of ENT surgeons, physicians, and audiologists on the enormous value of treating hearing loss and expanding access to hearing care. His clinical and research focus is to tackle the significant underutilization of cochlear implantation in the US and increase access to hearing care in all forms.

Performance prediction for CI users – test battery for top-down signal processing

Abstract: Bottom-up processing of acoustic information starts with sensory input at the cochlea. Sound is processed by translating the acoustic signal into a sequence of action potentials that propagate from the cochlea to the auditory cortex. Top-down processing, on the other hand, uses existing knowledge and expectations to influence how we perceive the incoming sound. In the majority of hearing-impaired patients, the cochlea is severely compromised, affecting bottom-up sound processing. In patients, hearing performance is likely not only determined by the damage in the cochlea but also by how much can be compensated by the top-down processing. Since it is not possible to test the top-down processing with acoustic signals in hard-of-hearing individuals, we hypothesize that the top-down ability can be tested with visual stimuli. In this study, we introduced a test battery to predict the performance of deaf patients after hearing restoration with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Bottom-up and top-down processing in the visual system are tested and compared with outcomes in the hearing in noise test. The results show that top-down processing of neural information in the visual and auditory systems is cross-modal, and that visual top-down processing test results predict auditory SIN perception thresholds.

Bio: Dr. Claus-Peter Richter is Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, and has joint appointments in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University, He is founding CTO of Resonance Medical, LLC.

Easy-access hearing care for adults diagnosed with cognitive impairment

Abstract: Hearing loss is a leading modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Despite its prevalence in aging and even higher occurrence in individuals with ADRD, hearing loss often remains unaddressed. Contributing factors include communication challenges being misattributed to cognitive decline, difficulty managing additional medical issues, and lack of awareness regarding accessible treatments. This presentation describes initial data from a randomized clinical trial investigating benefits of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids for adults with co-occurring hearing loss and either mild cognitive impairment or ADRD. Hearing tests were embedded within the diagnostic flow of the memory appointment and conducted by a staff member trained to use a tablet audiometer. Results were reviewed by an off-site audiologist. Study participants received telehealth support including information about their hearing and recommendations for onward care. This brief presentation summarizes interim results of the trial, including level of hearing difficulty, communication partner concerns, and benefits of hearing treatment.

Bio: Pamela Souza, PhD, is a professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders Dept. with secondary faculty appointments in Linguistics and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern University. Dr. Souza's research interests include speech recognition, hearing aids, and the effects of aging and cognitive change on communication. A recurring theme in her scientific work is understanding individual auditory and cognitive abilities in order to customize hearing treatment. Dr. Souza is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the Knowles Hearing Center. She is a licensed audiologist with experience in a variety of medical settings. Her clinical interests include hearing aids, severe hearing loss, hearing assistive technology, tinnitus management, and patient education.

The Hearing Health Disparities Research Framework: Advancing Hearing Health across the Life Course

Abstract: Access to effective communication is fundamental to the health of individuals, families, and communities across the life course. Differences in hearing health and care exist and persist despite increasing efforts to approach hearing health through a public health lens. This presentation will introduce basic concepts around health disparities, including hearing health disparities from a social epidemiologic perspective. Limited progress in understanding and addressing differences in health across populations is not isolated to hearing health. The National Institutes of Health introduced several research frameworks to guide a more robust understanding of differences in health and health outcomes and, most importantly, the development and implementation of multilevel, multidomain interventions that mirror the complexities of the determinants that drive these differences. This talk will introduce an adapted version of the research frameworks specific to hearing health to aid in the identification of gaps in our understanding and potential multifaceted intervention targets in meeting the cross-cutting hearing health needs from individuals to populations in the United States and highlight promising advances in closing gaps in care.

Bio: Carrie L. Nieman, MD, MPH is an associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-founder of Access HEARS, a nonprofit committed to the delivery of affordable, accessible hearing care. As a clinician, researcher and social entrepreneur, her commitment to social justice is inseparable from her drive to provide innovative solutions to address disparities in hearing care. Her epidemiological work documents widespread disparities in hearing health care. In order to move toward innovative, evidence-based and sustainable solutions, Nieman works across disciplines and translates research and approaches in gerontology, social design, behavioral intervention research, community-based participatory research and human factors to advance hearing health equity and bring innovation to underserved communities.

Panel Participants

Alex Chern

(moderator)

University of Pennsylvania

Michael Santucci

Sensaphonics

Shannon Switzer

Sensaphonics

Ava Earl

Northwestern University

Panel Participants

Panel Participants

Vinaya Manchaiah

(moderator)

University of Colorado

Michelle Arnold

University of South Florida

Marcia Hay-McCutcheon

University of Alabama