Hearing Loops Views

General Goods

But it wasn't until October 2008 that Dr. Sterkens realized hearing loops would not only be good for her patients; they also make great sense from an audiology practice point of view. Today, Juliëtte combines her audiology experience with the engineering background of her husband, LeRoy Max Maxfield, to bring hearing loop technology to the Fox Valley in Wisconsin.

My engineering background gives me the required expertise to do smaller OUTSIDE HER COMMUNITY: Juliette Sterkens, AuD, serves on the Get in the Hearing Loop task force, a joint project of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) and the American Academy of Audiology (AAA). She will participate in the 2nd International Hearing Loop Conference, June 18-20, 2011, in Washington DC. Dr. Sterkens also has been invited to give presentations on hearing loops at the Georgia Academy of Audiology, January 2011 in Marietta, GA, and the annual AAA AudiologyNow meeting, April 2011 in Chicago.

The connection for audiologists to hearing loops is very important--I am lucky that Max has been able to get the ball rolling in the Fox Valley but not everyone has to be able to install large hearing loops, she says. I would like to see audiologists advocate for hearing loops in their communities. That way they can really maximize their patients' experiences with their hearing aids. Hearing loops are to hearing aid users what wheelchair ramps are to those in wheelchairs. One is no good without the other.

Together with Dr. Myers from Michigan and other loop advocates around the country, Dr. Sterkens has reached out to other audiologists and hearing care providers as well as audio companies to help spread the technology beyond her own community. She serves on the Get in the Hearing Loop task force, a joint project of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) and the American Academy of Audiology (AAA). The task force has launched a campaign to encourage consumers, audiologists and other hearing professionals to get in the loop for hearing assistive technology, with a primary focus on hearing loops and telecoils, in order to improve accessibility for the 36 million Americans with hearing loss.