|
07:00 AM - 08:00 AM
|
Breakfast in the Exhibit Hall
|
|
08:00 AM - 09:30 AM
|
Effectively Deploying Assistants and Dispensers in your Practice to Optimize Outcomes
More information coming soon!
Speakers: Amyn Amlani, Ph.D.; Alyssa Ricevuto, Au.D.
AI and Audiology Outreach (Part 1): Enhancing Consumer Outreach with AI-Driven Strategies
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in business operations is transforming the healthcare landscape, and audiology practices stand to benefit significantly. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing marketing strategies across industries, and audiology practices can harness its power to enhance consumer outreach. This seminar will focus on how AI-driven tactics can improve patient engagement, personalize communication, and drive consumer interest in hearing healthcare services. By leveraging AI tools such as chatbots, predictive analytics, voice search optimization, automated content creation, and hyper-personalized advertising, audiologists can effectively attract and retain patients. Attendees will gain practical insights into implementing AI-powered marketing techniques to expand their reach, increase patient conversion rates, and optimize the overall patient experience.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the role of AI in modern consumer-focused marketing strategies for audiology practices.
- Identify key AI tools and technologies that enhance direct patient outreach and engagement, such as chatbots, automated email campaigns, and personalized digital ads to attract and retain patients.
- Develop an AI-powered marketing framework tailored to their practice’s consumer engagement goals.
Speaker: Michelle Carroll
Speaking Their Language: How to Position Yourself as the Go-To Audiologist for Physicians
Many audiologists struggle to communicate effectively with physicians, feeling intimidated by medical marketing or unsure how to position themselves as essential healthcare partners. This session equips audiologists with the tools to effectively educate physicians, address common objections, and streamline the referral process. Attendees will learn how to frame hearing loss as a medical concern linked to dementia, fall risk, and cardiovascular health, making it a priority in primary care. Through concise messaging strategies, practical referral tools, and interactive exercises, audiologists will gain confidence in building physician relationships. This hybrid lecture and workshop format provides actionable steps to increase referrals and position private practice audiologists as the preferred choice over retail chains.
Learning Objectives
- Develop Confidence in Physician Outreach: Learn how to effectively communicate the importance of hearing healthcare and overcome intimidation in medical marketing.
- Address Physician Objections: Understand common concerns about referrals, patient costs, and time constraints, and learn how to position audiology as a key part of patient care.
- Implement an Effective Referral Strategy: Use proven tools like physician-friendly handouts, referral workflows, and follow-up techniques to increase referrals and strengthen relationships.
Speaker: Katie Armotoski, Au.D.
Recruiting Best Practices and Strategies
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics states that the employment of audiologists is projected to grow 11 percent between now and 2032. Are your practice and your team ready to grow alongside the industry? Attend this course to get the tools and knowledge needed to find, attract, interview, and retain top candidates in a competitive market.
Learning Objectives
- Upon completion of this session, the participant will be able to build and execute a successful recruitment cycle.
- Upon completion of this session, the participant will be able to attract and retain candidates to align with business goals.
- Upon completion of this session, the participant will be able to engage with and support new employees through onboarding processes.
Speaker: Steve Hughbanks
Marketrak25: Industry Landscape
This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of the hearing aid industry, highlighting key trends and developments shaping its future. We will discuss the results of MarkeTrak25, which includes new data on hearing aid adoption, OTC usage, cochlear implant overview and key data on hearing loss by age. We will also compare the latest data from MT25 to MT22 to provide insights into changes in market dynamics. Secondly, we will examine the potential impacts of recent U.S. election outcomes on healthcare policy, focusing on legislation and regulations that influence hearing healthcare services and access to hearing aids. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the intersection of industry trends, policy shifts, and consumer empowerment. This lecture will provide the following insights: 1) the federal legislative and regulatory issues. 2) the delivery of hearing healthcare and how the issues mentioned above will influence our industry; 3) a look into the key issues from MT25.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the different forces impacting the delivery of hearing health care and hearing aids.
- Discuss the impact of OTC devices including acquisition and usage.
- Review the legislative and regulatory changes that as a result of the election and legislative actions that may impact the delivery system for hearing health services.
Speaker: Bridget Dobyan, JD; Tom Powers, Ph.D.
|
|
08:00 AM - 01:00 PM
|
Student Track
|
|
09:30 AM - 10:00 AM
|
Break in the Exhibit Hall
|
|
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
|
Pharmaceutical Intervention for Cisplatin-Related Ototoxicity
More information coming soon!
Speaker: TBD
AI and Audiology Outreach (Part 2): Breaking the Sound Barrier: AI, Prompt Engineering & Health Literacy Strategies to Revolutionize Hearing Healthcare Marketing & Advocacy
How we market, educate, and advocate for audiology is changing—are we keeping up? This session will examine the readability and accessibility of hearing healthcare materials that prompt new engineering strategies using AI-powered tools to optimize marketing, physician referrals, and advocacy messaging.. Attendees will learn how advanced AI prompts can generate effective, engaging, and audience-specific content, ensuring audiologists’ messages reach patients, providers, and policymakers. We will highlight real-world disparities and provide actionable AI-driven solutions to improve communication in private practice. AI is the future of audiology advocacy—this session will show you how to use it effectively.
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the importance of healthcare literacy and readability in hearing healthcare materials and how AI-powered prompt engineering can optimize patient communication, physician referrals, and advocacy efforts.
- Apply AI-driven marketing strategies to improve clinic visibility, patient engagement, and collaboration with physicians and policymakers, ensuring content is accessible to diverse literacy levels.
- Develop prompt engineering skills to generate customized, strategic, and easy-to-understand content that enhances accessibility and empowers private practices to communicate effectively with patients and stakeholders.
Speakers: Nora Visscher-Simon, Au.D.; Maansi Aghera, Au.D.
Lifestyle Medicine Marketing: Making the Audiology Connection to Connectedness
More information coming soon!
Speakers: Sheena Oliver, Au.D.; Jill Davis, Au.D.
Mastering Crucial Conversations: Proven Strategies for Navigating High-Stakes Conversations Resulting in Stronger Relationships
Crucial conversations are an inevitable part of any private practice, but they can often feel uncomfortable or lead to unproductive outcomes. Whether you’re addressing a co-worker, employee, or patient, conversations with strong emotions, high stakes and differing opinions can be challenging. In this session, you’ll learn proven techniques from Crucial Learning and cognitive behavioral methods to navigate these high-stakes moments with confidence. This course will help you create safety in conversations, allowing you to communicate openly with almost anyone about anything. You’ll learn to identify and resolve communication barriers, stay composed when emotions run high, and articulate your needs while respecting others’ viewpoints. By mastering these tools, you’ll strengthen relationships, achieve better results, and transform difficult interactions into opportunities for growth.
Learning Objectives
- Participants will be able to create safety with their co-workers, employees or patients so they can talk with almost anyone about almost anything.
- Participants will be able to identify problems contributing to poor results and struggling relationships.
- Participants will be able to describe how to keep composure when feeling angry or defensive and identify what stories they may be telling themselves.
Speaker: Laurel Gregory, MA
Hearing Aid Fittings for the Cognitively Impaired
More information coming soon!
Speaker: Heidi Hill, Au.D.
|
|
11:30 AM - 01:00 PM
|
Lunch in the Exhibit Hall
|
|
01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
|
Cerumen Management Workshop
More information coming soon!
Speakers: Jiovanne Hughart, Au.D.; Rita Chaiken, Au.D.
Integrating Multi-Modal Biomarkers for Personalized Auditory and Associated Mental Health Insights: The SAiWELL Audiological Insights Platform
Hearing loss is intricately linked to cognitive decline, mental wellness, and overall quality of life. Traditional audiometric assessments provide critical diagnostic information but fail to capture the broader physiological and psychological risk factors influencing auditory health. The SAiWELL Auditory Health Insights Platform is a novel, multi-modal risk stratification model that integrates phenotypic bio-marker based profiling, audiometry data, word recognition scores, tympanometry results, and mental wellness markers. By analyzing data from thousands of patients across distinct risk clusters, SAiWELL provides a personalized, predictive measure of auditory health, helping clinicians proactively identify at-risk individuals. This approach enables data-driven counseling, targeted interventions, and long-term monitoring. SAiWELL represents a paradigm shift in audiology, bridging the gap between hearing diagnostics and mental well-being for holistic, patient-centered care.
Learning Objectives
- Understand Multi-Modal Risk Stratification – Gain insights into how integrating phenotypic bio-marker based profiling, audiometry data, tympanometry, and mental wellness markers enhances risk classification for auditory health.
- Apply Data-Driven Personalization in Audiology – Learn how the SAiWELL Auditory Health Insights and Scoring enables individualized patient counseling, proactive interventions, and long-term monitoring to improve hearing and mental wellness outcomes.
- Bridge the Gap Between Hearing Health and Mental Well-Being – Explore how cognitive, emotional, and physiological risk factors influence auditory function and how AI-driven insights can empower clinicians to provide holistic, patient-centered care.
Speaker: Prasad Panchangam
The Social Consequences of Hearing Loss: Are Hearing Aids Enough?
Research suggests that many persons with hearing loss lack effective coping skills and tend to avoid social interactions, often deepening their isolation and loneliness. This course explores the relationship between hearing loss and social connectedness, including how properly fitted hearing aids and other audiological interventions might promote better social engagement through improved communication in multi-talker, noisy situations, reduced listening-related fatigue, restored music enjoyment, increased confidence and positive social impact.
Learning Objectives
- Define social disconnectedness and its impact on daily living.
- Describe the relationship between age-related hearing loss and social connectedness.
- Describe how the fitting of hearing aids could improve the various facets of social engagement.
Speaker: Brian Taylor, Au.D.
Speech & Noise Testing
More information coming soon!
Speakers: Matthew Fitzgerald, Au.D.
|
|
02:30 PM - 03:00 PM
|
Final Break in the Exhibit Hall
|
|
03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
|
Cerumen Management Workshop
More information coming soon!
Speakers: Jiovanne Hughart, Au.D.; Rita Chaiken, Au.D.
AI-Powered Aural Rehab in Clinical Practice
More information coming soon!
Speakers: Rick Carlson, MBA; Miles Aron, Ph.D.
Hearing Aids and SCIF
More information coming soon!
Speaker: Kimberly Jenkins, Au.D.
State Advocacy: Scope Modernization
More information coming soon!
Speakers: Bryan Greenaway, Au.D.; Jana Brown; Alicia Spoor, Au.D.; Stephanie Czuhajewski, MPH
|
|
05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
|
Closing Reception
|
Susannah Fox
Lucy Orr-Ewing