Cochlear Implants CEU Courses

This course provides clinicians – especially Otolaryngologists and Audiologists – an update on when to refer adult patients for cochlear implant (CI) evaluation. Traditional adult CI candidates are those who have moderate to profound hearing loss in both ears and have had limited success from hearing aids. Here we provide information to referring clinicians on when it is appropriate to refer their patients for CI evaluation, including a review of new “60/60” criteria, use of CI technology for patients with single-sided deafness (SSD), and updates on electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS).

Greater racial/ethnic disparities exist among patients evaluated for hearing aids versus those evaluated for cochlear implants. This is the first event in a Diversity Series that will explore why diversity and inclusion matter in hearing healthcare and explore how we can improve our cultural competence and address race barriers in the healthcare system.

This course will describe the language barriers often faced at an audiology practice in a major metropolitan hospital, and how these barriers are overcome to provide the best patient care. Different specialty areas of audiology will be discussed, including auditory processing disorders, adult amplification, and pediatric cochlear implantation.

Children with hearing loss must have full-time access to speech and environmental sounds to optimize their listening and spoken language development. This 20Q summarizes the research that examines hearing technology wear time in children and its effect on outcomes. Highlights include research that examines the relationship between wear time and outcomes, and a review of factors that influence wear time. Additionally, numerous clinical tips are provided for optimizing hearing-technology wear time in children with hearing loss.

Considerable variation exists across the medical and audiologic communities regarding determination of cochlear implant (CI) candidacy. While criteria exist from the FDA for children and adults and from CMS for Medicare beneficiaries, different clinics and even audiologists within the same clinic use varying protocols to determine CI candidacy in different age groups and also considering factors other than hearing status. To provide guidance on this topic, the ACI Alliance Board of Directors commissioned four papers to provide guidelines for candidacy for children and adults with bilateral hearing loss and those with single-sided deafness. Task forces were appointed to develop the guidelines with membership drawn from across the care continuum to include audiologists, surgeons, speech-language pathologists, and others involved in CI patient care. This course will review each of those four candidacy guidelines.

This course will introduce participants to the ACI Alliance Guidelines for cochlear implantation in children with single sided deafness (SSD). Instructors will use case studies to guide attendees through highlights of the document including candidacy, evaluation, and programming recommendations.

The indications for cochlear implantation have expanded to include patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) and asymmetric hearing loss (AHL). The present course reviews the current evidence and results from a systematic review that were combined to provide guidance for the clinical assessment and management of adults with SSD and AHL. This course is presented by AudiologyOnline in partnership with ACIA.

Patients with cochlear implants must receive ongoing and consistent care in order to maximize outcomes. However, for some patients access to care may be limited by geography, mobility, or family and work responsibilities. In this course, we will explore how Cochlear’s Remote Care technology is making it possible to provide quality care to patients without a trip into the clinic and we will provide detail on Remote Check, a tool that allows clinicians to monitor patient progress anytime and anywhere.

This course will review guidelines for cochlear implant candidacy for pediatric patients. In addition, we will discuss specific considerations for working with pediatric patients who are deaf or hard of hearing and may benefit from cochlear implant technology. This course is presented by AudiologyOnline in partnership with ACIA.

This course will review components included in an adult cochlear implant evaluation and provide guidelines for testing a cochlear implant candidate. This course is presented by AudiologyOnline in partnership with ACIA.