ASHA Voices

Call it the cochlear implant’s cousin—A new device is stimulating the inner ear and allowing some patients to regain a sense of balance. We speak to Charley Della Santina, the director of the Johns Hopkins Vestibular NeuroEngineering Lab. Plus, we hear from a recipient of the device, A’ndrea Elyse Messer, and an audiologist who is the director of the USC Balance Center, Alaina Bassett.

It’s our second batch of stories featuring SLPs sharing stories about the unexpected places their careers have taken them. First, Shulunda Gibson takes us from burnout in private practice to a trip around the world. Hear the lessons she learned while moving from “fear to freedom.” Then, the authors of Speech-Language Pathologists as Expert Witnesses, Brenda Seal and Lissa Power-deFur, demonstrate...

The podcast was recognized with industry awards in four categories. In this special short episode, we're bringing you clips from some of the winners.

SLPs share stories where, for one reason or another, they decided to make a big change in their career and ended up in places they never would have predicted. First, Kristin King’s story takes her from a trauma center in North Carolina to her role as vice president of clinical education and research at Passy-Muir. Then, Suzanne Coyle goes from being a clinician working in outpatient rehab to her r...

On this episode of ASHA Voices, Lindsay Riegler, an innovation specialist and research SLP with the Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center, shares her perspective on telepractice from inside the VA, where she’s seen many barriers to telepractice removed. At the center of the conversation are questions about access. What can the VA teach us about what’s possible through telepractice? And how is...

In health care, clinicians’ productivity is measured closely via requirements intended to manage labor costs and ensure patients are receiving care. Simply put, these expectations often have tremendous influence on SLPs as they treat clients every day. On the podcast, we’re joined by a panel of health care administrators who represent a wide range of settings to discuss this subject. We talk about...

After a traumatic brain injury, someone may experience wide-ranging difficulties related to their emotions, cognition, and their ability to communicate. When it comes to cognitive rehabilitation, it takes a team to help patients meet their goals. Neuropsychologist Brigid Waldron-Perrine and SLP McKay Moore Sohlberg help us take a patient-centered look at where psychology and speech-language pathol...

Audiology practice consultant Mike Dougherty shares a short list of what's helping audiologists grow their practice's patient base. He tells us how strategies like digital advertising and self-referral work, and why they're proving successful during COVID. Plus, as states and businesses continue to reopen, Dougherty discusses what the future looks like. He also explains why your vaccine status mig...

In just a split second, a traumatic brain injury can turn your life upside-down. SLP Alaina Davis takes us from the basketball court to the boxing ring to talk about traumatic brain injury (TBI) and rehabilitation. Through her podcast and thoughtfully crafted social media posts, Davis brings attention to TBIs and what they mean for cognition. Davis is faculty member at Howard University where she...

When the pandemic sent much of higher education into the virtual world last spring, Siva priya Santhanam wondered whether the autism support program she runs at Metropolitan State University of Denver could continue. The peer-support program brings students studying speech, language, and hearing sciences together with university students with autism. Now, a year later, Santhanam joins ASHA Voices...

The Academy Award nominations are in, and one of this year’s contenders examines the emotional toll of sudden hearing loss. On this episode of ASHA Voices, we discuss how the movie “Sound of Metal” fits into a long history of hearing loss and tinnitus portrayals on the silver screen -- and what this can tell us about societal views. Joining our panel are audiologists Peter Ivory and Michelle Hu, a...

SLP Joshuaa Allison-Burbank began working for the Indian Health Service in his Navajo Nation home in February of 2020. What happened next changed how he thought about his community and his profession. When the pandemic began, Allison-Burbank found himself working in an outdoor triage center at Northern Navajo Medical Center, witnessing the devastating effects of Dikos Ntsaaígíí, or COVID-19. Faced...

Friends since high school, audiologist Nicholas Stanley and social worker Samuel Bradley never expected they'd be working together. But here they are, collaborating on a series of presentations on disrupting racial bias after the idea came up during causal breakfast conversation The duo joins ASHA Voices to discuss their work to bolster culturally responsive care in audiology. Listen in as they sh...

You may have seen data saying hearing aid use is on the rise. When audiologist Nick Reed took a deeper dive into some of those numbers, he saw a troubling story. We discuss what that data reveals-- including racial and economic disparities. Also, Reed draws a line from a difficult event in his personal life to the research he’s producing today—research about hearing aid access and patient health o...

You may have seen stuttering in the headlines over the past year—due, in part, to the election of President Joe Biden, who has spoken openly about his experience as a person who stutters. Stuttering is having a moment, and we’re taking this occasion to talk about it. We hear from speech-language pathologist Chris Constantino, a faculty member at Florida State University who studies the experiences...

SLP Alicia Fleming Hamilton joins the podcast to discuss the new book "Exploring Cultural Responsiveness: Guided Scenarios for Communication Sciences and Disorders Professionals." Hamilton worked as an editor on the book from ASHA Press, which features stories and examples curated for, and from, audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Hamilton describes the book as a tool for self-reflectio...

After a harrowing year in which COVID-19 wreaked havoc, we're bringing you a show about your colleagues' outlook on the new year. Many are hoping for fresh starts and meaningful change. In the first segment, audiologists and SLPs share what they're looking forward to in 2021--including increased cultural responsiveness and improved physical and mental health. Then audiologist Carrie Spangler recou...

The podcast brings you a short update pointing you to the episodes you listened to most this year. We also preview some of what’s next, and how you can share feedback and topic suggestions.

We’re joined by the host of “The Swallow Your Pride Podcast.” A specialist in swallowing disorders, Theresa Richard shares what she’s learned while hosting the show aimed at SLPs managing dysphagia. We discuss Theresa’s path to the health care field, the origins of her podcast, and what it’s been like to speak to SLPs working on the front lines against COVID-19. Plus, Theresa shares a few of the e...

We’re talking about swallowing disorders in the time of COVID with two expert SLPs. Johns Hopkins’ Martin Brodsky joins us to trace the challenges facing clinicians tasked with managing dysphagia during the pandemic. He tells us what’s changed since the pandemic began, what he’s heard while serving on the Dysphagia Research Society (DRS) COVID-19 Task Force, and the important role of clinicians in...

As health care SLPs face rising COVID-19 numbers again, we're revisiting our earlier conversation with SLP Tami Altschuler. The patient-provider communication specialist shares stories of loss, recovery, sickness, and stigma as she walks us through the hallways of the NYU Langone Medical Center. She also shares lessons learned from facing a surge.

We bring you the story of how discussions of race between Ingrid Desormes and her rehabilitation unit's supervisor Christie Miller led to new learning--and friendship. Their talks began when Desormes joined the unit at Bethesda Hospital in 2019. In the time since, Miller says she’s changed the way she approaches racial issues in and outside the workplace. The two SLPs join the podcast for a conver...

Today we look at  ways   SLPs can work with families to cultivate a strong sense of self in children with autism. Of course, SLPs know the importance of  helping a child with autism  become empowered and  believe in themselves, and today’s guests make that a priority. SLPs Rachel Dorsey and Jessie Ginsburg share  strategies and examples of ways to help foster  this positive  outlook with a strengt...

Mask muffling. Decreased intelligibility. Backlogged hearing screenings. These are just some of the challenges educational audiologists face this academic year. Today on the podcast, we discuss how educational audiologists are adapting their practices for the times, with the past, current, and incoming presidents of the Educational Audiology Association (EAA). We also talk telepractice. What are i...

School is back in session. And it looks nothing like it normally does. After a summer of uncertainty about what to expect this fall, school-based SLPs are navigating back-to-back telepractice sessions, hybrid online/in-person models, and myriad infection-control measures. In this episode, we hear about how it's going. We asked five school-based SLPs: What has the start of the new academic year bee...