Aging CEU Courses

This course examines the impact of hearing treatment in adults on aspects of overall health and well-being, with a particular focus on adults with hearing loss who are at risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Through this course, we will illuminate the role of cognitive screening in audiology clinical practice and the ways in which cognitive screening can aid in clinical decision making and the treatment and rehabilitation process.

Cognition as it relates to hearing loss has been an important topic of discussion for the last decade. In this course, hearing care providers will learn about the foundations of cognition and hearing loss, and how to proactively address hearing loss and promote healthy living as a way to possibly mitigate cognitive decline and positively impact the overall well-being of their clients.

An overview for healthcare professionals about Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders is provided in this course. Characteristics of the dementias, such as symptoms, progression, and how they are diagnosed, are described. Care planning strategies for improving communication with patients and families, understanding and managing behavioral challenges, and promoting independence are also discussed.

Part 1 discussed how a decline in some elements of cognition and auditory processing alters speech perception during normal aging. This course considers how hearing aids may help or hinder speech perception for older adults. The author discusses how different hearing aid settings can affect the speech signal and consider practical ways we can use this in the clinic to offer the optimum fitting for an individual, in particular how we should set up hearing aid compression.

As tens of millions of Americans are living longer lives, longevity is creating challenges for everyone, including hearing healthcare providers and their manufacturing partners. Centered on the human need to connect with others, this course addresses three components of hearing care: 1.) the specific communication challenges of the normal-aging population, 2.) how hearing healthcare providers can more effectively address the communication and quality of life needs of this group by using three clinical tools that meet the A-B-C criteria, and 3.) how manufacturers can engineer devices that leverage recent findings on the dynamics of group conversations.

Many aspects of cognition and auditory processing decline with normal aging, and this makes it difficult to hear in challenging situations, even without the additional problems caused by peripheral hearing loss. There is a huge amount of literature about hearing and aging. This course summarizes relevant findings and discusses the processes of normal aging that particularly affect speech perception.

An overview for the hearing healthcare professional about Alzheimer's disease and related disorders is provided in this course. Strategies for assessment and diagnosis, improving communication with patients, understanding and managing behavioral challenges, care planning and promoting independence are discussed. Methods for supporting family and caregivers are also described.

This course reviews the design and results of the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) randomized clinical trial, which tested if a best-practices hearing intervention vs. health education control delays cognitive older in older adults with untreated hearing loss over 3 years. Results are contextualized within a broader discussion of the strengths and limitations of the randomized controlled design, with emphasis on how to discuss study findings with patients and research questions that remain unanswered.

This course presents current scientific understanding of the effects of untreated hearing loss and hearing treatment on neurocognitive function and well-being.

This five-course series on adult assessments in hearing health is intended to stimulate collaborative approaches for hearing health professionals, regardless of what hearing technologies they typically provide. Ideally, professionals will support patients in their long-term hearing loss journey, facilitating transitions when appropriate and a comfortable sense of the range of ways hearing loss can be addressed throughout one’s hearing journey.