Interdisciplinary Grand Rounds in Cochlear Implants

Recorded: December 17, 2018, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET

Presenters: Kristin Gravel, AuD; Meredith Adams, MD; Coral Dirks, AuD; Erin O’Neill, BA;  Jennifer Ward, AuD; Barbara Friedman, AuD; Kirsten Bock, AuD, Dianna Hart, AuD and Margaret Koeritzer, AuD

CEUs: 0.3 AAA/Tier 1 CEUs

Duration: 3 Hours

Instructional Level: Intermediate

Program Focus: Knowledge

Learner Outcomes: Upon completion, each participant in the eAudiology Web Seminar will be able to:

1. Determine current candidacy criteria for cochlear implantation.
2. Identify when a referral is appropriate to a cochlear implant center.
3. Discuss clinical decision making regarding cochlear implant candidacy and advanced programming techniques.
4. Envision how cochlear implant research can influence clinical practice.
5. Recognize complex medical conditions which may affect one’s success with a cochlear implant.

Description:

Interdisciplinary Grand Rounds in Cochlear Implants will feature audiology, neurotology, and hearing science perspectives as topics such as expanding cochlear implant candidacy and programming optimization are explored. Researchers will share current projects related to individual variables affecting performance following cochlear implantation, as well as studies investigating options for optimize binaural cues for individuals receiving cochlear implants for single-sided deafness. Case presentations will feature medically complex and unconventional clinical scenarios. Time will be reserved at the end of the case presentations for participant questions.

Kristin Gravel, AuD; University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital

Kristin Gravel, AuD, CCC-A, PASC, is a pediatric audiologist at the Lions Children's Hearing & ENT Clinic at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, MN, and is a visiting lecturer in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Gravel has held leadership positions within the Minnesota Academy of Audiology (MAA) as a former board member and Membership Committee chair and currently serves as co-chair of the Awards & Nominations Committee. Dr. Gravel is a member of the Ad-Hoc Committee for the Next Generation through the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and serves on the Continuing Education Committee of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA).

Meredith Adams, MD; University of Minnesota Department of Otolaryngology

Meredith E. Adams, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She completed medical school (’03), Otolaryngology residency (’08) and fellowship training in Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery (’10) at the University of Michigan.  Dr. Adams’s clinical practice is focused on all aspects of otology, neurotology, and lateral skull base surgery.  Her research program is focused on optimizing the diagnostic evaluation and treatment of patients with dizziness and balance disorders, as well as other inner ear disorders.  She is funded by NIH (R21) to study diagnostic health service utilization for dizziness using the Optum Labs Data Warehouse. She also serves as the UMN site PI for a diagnostic clinical trial of a novel neuroimaging paradigm for tinnitus (DoD) and as a major co-investigator in a multi-institutional initiative to develop a direct auditory nerve implant for hearing loss (NIH).

Coral Dirks, AuD; University of Minnesota 

Coral Dirks is an audiologist and current PhD student in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD and MA in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and AuD from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. In 2017, she was awarded an NIDCD Research Dissertation Fellowship for AuD. Audiologists to complete her dissertation work on patients with single-sided deafness. Her co-mentors on this project are Drs. Peggy Nelson and Andrew Oxenham.

Erin O’Neill, BA; University of Minnesota 

Erin O’Neill is a psychology PhD student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, specializing in cognitive and brain sciences. She is an active member of Dr. Andrew Oxenham’s Auditory Perception and Cognition lab, conducting research on cognitive and social factors influencing variability in hearing outcomes in adult cochlear implant users. Erin is starting her second year as a fellow of the NRT Graduate Training Program in Sensory Science: Optimizing the Information Available for Mind and Brain, provided by the National Science Foundation. As a bilateral cochlear implant user herself, Erin’s interest in cochlear implants is both personal and professional. Prior to beginning her PhD, Erin received a BA in mathematics and Spanish from St. Olaf College.

Barbara Friedman, AuD; University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, M Health Fairview

Barbara Friedman, AuD, CCC-A is a clinical audiologist working with both pediatric and adult patients at University of Minnesota Health and Lions Children’s Hearing in ENT Clinic at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis Minnesota. After completing her Clinical Fellowship Year at a University Medical Hospital, she worked as an educational audiologist, then transferred to her current position.  She was involved with the first pediatric cochlear implant for Minnesota in 1990, and later worked with manufactures clinical research trials.  She has presented at Minnesota Academy of Audiology, American Speech Hearing and Language Association, American Academy of Audiology, as well as local presentations to Educational Audiologists, Parent Support Groups, and Hearing Loss Association of America Twin Cities.  She serves patients of all ages with hearing diagnostics, hearing aids, and cochlear implants.

Kirsten Bock, AuD; M Health Fairview 

Kirsten Bock, AuD, CISC is an audiologist at the University of Minnesota Health in Minneapolis where she specializes in cochlear implants, hearing aids and tinnitus in the adult population. She obtained her Cochlear Implant Specialty Certification through the American Board of Audiology in July 2017. She received her BA, MA and AuD at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Her clinical externship and LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Disabilities) fellowship were completed at the University of Colorado Hospital in 2013-2014. She began working at University of Minnesota Health in June 2014.

Jennifer Ward, AuD; University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital 

Jennifer Ward, AuD, is a clinical audiologist with 20 years of experience, who is currently seeing pediatric patients and is the supervisor of audiologists at the Lions Children’s Hearing & ENT Clinic/University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. Previously, Jennifer worked in a large private ENT clinic in the Twin Cities and a non-profit cochlear implant and balance center in Kansas City, MO. She was involved in obtaining clinical research trial data for all 3 cochlear implant companies in 1998-2000 and served as a consultant on future technology with Cochlear America’s in 2012. Jennifer has been a guest lecturer at the University of Minnesota regarding pediatric audiology, pediatric cochlear implants and pediatric amplification. She has been actively involved with Northern Voices, a non-profit school teaching deaf/hard of hearing children to use listening and spoken language, since 2007.

Dianna Hart, AuD; M Health Fairview 

Dianna L. Hart, AuD, CCC-A, CISC, is an audiologist at the University of Minnesota Health in Minneapolis, MN, where she specializes in cochlear implants in the adult population.  She obtained her Cochlear Implant Specialty Certification through the American Board of Audiology in 2017.  She has served as a guest lecturer in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at the University of Minnesota.  She received her BS, MS and AuD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Her clinic externship was completed at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview from 2005-2006 and she was hired to remain on the team as a staff audiologist after graduating in 2006.  

Margaret Koeritzer, AuD; University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital

Margaret Koeritzer, AuD is a licensed audiologist who works at the University of Minnesota Lions Children’s Hearing & ENT Clinic. Margaret graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in 2016 with her Doctorate of Audiology. Currently, she works with pediatric patients across the scope of practice including: diagnostics, electrophysiology, hearing aids, bone conduction hearing aids, and cochlear implants. Margaret also performs vestibular assessments one day per week at the University of Minnesota Clinics and Surgery Center. Margaret teaches an online Aural Rehabilitation class for the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, and she serves as co-chair for the Membership Development Committee of the Minnesota Academy of Audiology (MAA).