These is always a risk in asking someone to recall events of more than a decade ago. Time frames may be misplaced. The then immediate importance of something could become of little consequence with the passage of time. It is with that caution that I begin to recall the major events of the Academy of 1986 and 1987.

The Keynote Address of the ADA Convention held in May 1986 at Lake of the Ozarks was a plea for the three hearing aid providing camps - audiologists, hearing aid dealers, and physicians - to give up more than a decade of verbal and printed warfare and cooperate for the benefit of the hearing impaired. The ADA reasoned that the public must be confused with competing messages telling them that this group is the good guys while another message says, no, they are really the bad guys. It was a move that did not win the Nobel Peace prize, but did propel the Academy to the role of leadership in the delivery of hearing health care.

During 1986 - 1987, our membership increased from about 320 to more than 500 members. Our first long-range planning meeting was held in Chicago in 1986. We shared the podium with ASHA in Baltimore on a conference about Amplification 1986: Evaluation, Dispensing, Devices. It was our first joint venture with ASHA as we came of age. Hot issues of the time included debates about whether non-profits should sell hearing aids and continuing our efforts for recognition as part of the hearing health team. For example, in 1986, when interested public phoned BHI for help in getting amplification, they were given the names of members of the (then) National Hearing Aid Society with no mention of the ADA.