07/29/2025
I’m still recovering from a crazy few weeks, but I had to share this part. I sat in a room for two straight days learning about neuroaudiology with audiologists/audiology students/hearing professionals/educators. We traveled from across the country to collaborate on issues surrounding Auditory Processing Disorder, hidden hearing loss, cognitive effects on hearing, and aural rehabilitation. Dr. Gail Whitelaw and her incredible OSU team graciously hosted us in the heart of their Columbus campus.
I am still marveling how I get to be in the same room with people like Dr. Gail Whitelaw and Dr. Harvey Dillon and Dr. Anu Sharma. You guys- I studied from textbooks and articles and research they wrote some 20+ years ago as a grad student. I can’t tell you how surreal it is to learn from them directly, classroom style- to be able to ask questions and interact with their thought processes, so many years later. 🤯
I feel privileged.
I also reflect on how dedicated these audiologists are, how everyone I sat with in the room for two full days, discussing neuroaudiology came in humble and curious. And that’s just the thing- to grow in knowledge and practice you have to remain curious, don’t you? You have to admit there are so many things you just don’t know but want to understand and try out, despite your years in the profession. The educational and research space in the world of audiology is some kind of magic. OGs like Dr. Gail Whitelaw get to teach, but they also sit and ask questions, mentor students equally curious and so capable, advise people like me who are in clinical settings and somewhat removed from the research space.
I have learned so many things this weekend.
I have learned that to grow clinically, personally, and/or professionally, you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You have to come to the table knowing there are parts of the equation you haven’t figured out, and believe that you can figure them out. Not knowing them doesn’t equal not having capacity to achieve them. It simply means you don’t know what you don’t know. I tell myself to be curious enough to ask the burning question, be brave and actually ask the question, be humble enough to admit you haven’t mastered the space you are entering.
I have also learned that mentorship in the field of audiology is how the profession gets to build itself. I wish…so many years ago I had a good mentor. I didn’t access quality mentorship until later in my career. We can learn theory and research in school, but dedicated clinical mentors are who help us make sense out of it and utilize it to our and our patients’ advantage. I just started taking on students. Does it slow me down clinically? Yes. So why do it? Because I enjoy watching people grow personally and professionally. Because I want to see them win. I want audiology to win. And maybe, just maybe…a long time ago, I wish I had a mentor who cared enough to help me win.
Shoutout to Entheos Cooperative, who ALWAYS invests in its audiologists, and cares enough to say “hey, we need to get a bunch of us in a room and hash out neuroaudiology for a weekend. We need to collaborate and help each other out” 🙌🏽
