This panel features deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) professionals, including audiologists, a physician, a speech-language pathologist, an educator, and a psychologist, sharing their unique perspectives on navigating their professions while integrating personal experiences. Topics include building trusting, meaningful relationships with patients and families through shared lived experiences, addressing practical challenges (e.g., conducting listening checks or device troubleshooting), and recommendations for improving accessibility across clinical, educational, and workplace settings. Presented in partnership with ACI Alliance.
Upcoming Live Webinars
CEUs/Hours Offered: ACAud inc HAASA/1.5; ASHA/0.15 Introductory, Professional; BAA/1.5; CAA/1.5; Calif. SLPAB/1.5; IACET/0.2; IHS/1.5; Kansas, LTS-S0035/1.5; NZAS/2.0; SAC/1.5; TX TDLR, #142/1.5 Non-manufacturer
Under Review: AAA/0.15 Introductory
Learning Outcomes
- After this course, participants will be able to discuss the role of shared experience in patient-professional relationships when both parties have hearing loss.
- After this course, participants will be able to identify at least three logistical challenges and solutions identified by DHH professionals in hearing healthcare and education settings.
- After this course, participants will be able to describe systemic barriers to accessibility for DHH professionals in their workplace and discuss strategies to mitigate these barriers.
Agenda
| 0-5 Minutes | Introduction |
| 5-20 Minutes | Building Trust & Connection Through Shared Experience |
| 20-40 Minutes | Practical Challenges and Solutions |
| 40-55 Minutes | Accessibility and Systemic Recommendations |
| 55-70 Minutes | Why Representation Matters for Clinical Excellence |
| 70-80 Minutes | Emerging Research/Invitation to Participate |
| 80-90 Minutes | Summary, Q & A |
Presented By
Jaquelyn Briggs
MA
Jacquelyn Briggs, MA, is a Teacher of the Deaf and Music Educator, with a deep commitment to supporting young children with hearing loss and empowering their families. As a professional with single-sided deafness who uses a unilateral cochlear implant, Ms. Briggs brings both lived experience and advanced training to her work. She currently serves as an early intervention provider at Sound Start Babies in Mountain Lakes, NJ, an agency dedicated to supporting children with hearing loss from birth to three. In this role, Ms. Briggs delivers center-based, home-based, and teletherapy early intervention services, integrating evidence-based practices with family-centered coaching to promote communication, auditory skill development, and holistic early learning. With a strong background in music, Ms. Briggs also authored a specialized music curriculum designed to support the inclusion of music within deaf education, demonstrating her belief in the power of music as a multisensory, inclusive tool for learning and connection. Guided by both her professional expertise and personal experience, Ms. Briggs is dedicated to fostering accessible, engaging, and meaningful learning environments for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
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James R. Dornhoffer
MD
James Dornhoffer, MD, is an assistant professor and neurotologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Dornhoffer has bilateral hearing loss and comes from a family with a long standing history of such hearing loss, with multiple immediate and extended family members with cochlear implants. As such, he understands the importance of hearing healthcare and the toll that hearing loss can take on a patient and their family. As such, his clinical interests revolve around maximizing hearing outcomes in a variety of diagnoses and conditions.
In addition to his clinical activities, Dr. Dornhoffer is an active researcher. His research focuses on cochlear implantation, particularly on how to provide holistic care and auditory training to new implant recipients. He also examines ways to streamline implant programming, cochlear implantation in unique disease, and quality of life after implantation. Dr. Dornhoffer is a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the American Neurotology Society.
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Jessica Hoffman
AuD
Jessica Hoffman, AuD, is a Cochlear Implant and Clinical Audiologist at the Westchester Cochlear Implant Program, Advanced ENT Services at Westchester Medical Center, and Phelps Hospital’s Speech & Audiology. She provides comprehensive audiologic care with expertise in diagnostics, auditory brainstem response testing, cochlear implant candidacy evaluation, programming, and management, as well as pediatric and adult amplification services. Dr. Hoffman completed her AuD at Northwestern University. She was born profoundly deaf, uses bilateral cochlear implants, and is fluent in American Sign Language, bringing personal insight and communication accessibility to her clinical practice. Dr. Hoffman is co-founder and moderator of the Association of Audiologists with Hearing Loss and serves on the advisory board for Iona University's certificate program in working with young deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their families. She is an active advocate and presenter at local and national conferences on hearing technologies, cochlear implants, and accessibility in audiology.
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Mike Hoffman
PhD
Dr. Michael Hoffman is a Pediatric Psychologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia within the Center for Childhood Communication and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He provides integrated psychological services with an emphasis on patient-centered, collaborative care for deaf and hard of hearing children and their families. Dr. Hoffman serves on the cochlear implant team. He has also developed a tiered model of service to screen all DHH patients and provide brief interventions for challenges related to deafness (deaf identity, adjustment to hearing loss/limited device usage, family stress related to hearing loss, academic/peer difficulties, and traditional psychiatric diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD). Dr. Hoffman is deaf himself, and utilizes one cochlear implant and one hearing aid.
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Caroline Ruocco
MS CCC-SLP
Caroline Ruocco, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she is a member of the Cochlear Implant Team. Her experience includes working with pediatric and adult patients with hearing loss who rely on various forms of amplification and whose primary mode of communication is listening and spoken language. As someone with hearing loss who uses bilateral hearing aids, Ms. Ruocco is dedicated to advancing language outcomes and overall quality of life for individuals with hearing loss. She earned her undergraduate degree in Linguistics from Bucknell University and her Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently pursuing a clinical doctorate in speech-language pathology at the MGH Institute of Health Professions.
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Elaine Smolen
PhD, CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd
Elaine Smolen, PhD, CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd, is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Special Education: Deaf and Hard of Hearing program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research work centers around language and literacy development for young deaf and hard of hearing children who use listening and spoken language. Current projects include investigations of parent-child interactions, reading development, and parent support in early childhood. Smolen received her PhD in deaf and hard of hearing education from Columbia as a National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities scholar. An experienced teacher of the deaf and certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Smolen has served young deaf and hard of hearing children and their families as a head classroom teacher and in an itinerant role. She is proud to be hard of hearing and wears binaural hearing aids.
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Viral Tejani
AuD, PhD
Viral Tejani, AuD, PhD, is a Cochlear Implant Audiologist and Subdivision Leader of the Cochlear Implant program at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center as well as Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He provides clinical services and conducts research related to cochlear implantation. He completed his AuD at the University of Maryland and his PhD at the University of Iowa. He also has congenital hearing loss and uses hearing aids in both ears.
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Continued and its subsidiaries provide professional education authored by qualified Subject Matter Experts for continuing education purposes. These materials are intended for educational purposes and do not constitute medical advice or a substitute for individual clinical judgment. Continued is not a clinical healthcare provider; the licensed professional is solely responsible for ensuring that the application of any techniques or information presented is within their legal scope of practice and jurisdictional requirements.
Financial: Jacquelyn Briggs is an employee of Sound Start Babies and was paid an honorarium for this presentation. Non-financial: Jacquelyn Briggs has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Financial: James Dornhoffer is an employee of the Mayo Clinic and was paid an honorarium for this presentation. Non-financial: James Dornhoffer has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Financial: Jessica Hoffman is an employee of Westchester Medical Center and Phelps Hospital, and was paid an honorarium for this presentation. Non-financial: Jessica Hoffman has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Financial: Dr. Hoffman is an employee of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Non-financial: Dr. Hoffman has no relevant non-financial disclosures.
Financial: Caroline Ruocco is an employee of Weill Cornell Medicine and was paid an honorarium for this presentation. Non-financial: Caroline Ruocco has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Financial: Elaine Smolen is an employee of Sound Start Babies and was paid an honorarium for this presentation. Non-financial: Elaine Smolen has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Financial: Viral Tejani is an employee of University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, and Case Western University, and was paid an honorarium for this presentation. Non-financial: Viral Tejani has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Sponsor Disclosure: This course is presented by AudiologyOnline in partnership with the American Cochlear Implant Alliance
Content Disclosure: This learning event does not focus exclusively on any specific product or service.
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Australian College of Audiology incorporating HAASA
AudiologyOnline courses are approved for Continuing Professional Development points by the Australian College of Audiology incorporating HAASA. ACAud inc. HAASA Endorsement Number 2025127. This course is offered for 1.50 CPD points.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Assn.
Introductory Level
0.15 ASHA CEUs
British Academy of Audiology
This course has been accredited with 1.50 CPD point/s by the British Academy of Audiology.
Canadian Academy of Audiology
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California Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology Board
International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training
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International Hearing Society
This program is approved by the International Hearing Society and its educational committee, the International Institute for Hearing Instruments Studies. To learn more about earning IHS CE Credit, click here.
Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services
Kansas Department of Health and Environment: Approved for 1.50 continuing education clock hours for Kansas licensed Audiologists by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. Long-Term Sponsorship number LTS-S0035.
New Zealand Audiological Society
This course is offered for 2.00 Continuing Education points through the New Zealand Audiological Society.
Speech-Language & Audiology Canada
Clinically certified members of Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC) can accumulate continuing education equivalents (CEEs) for their participation with AudiologyOnline. One hour of coursework equals 1 CEE. All SAC members are encouraged to participate in on-going education.
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
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