National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) CEU Courses

This course delves into the challenges of identifying hearing loss in young children and introduces an artificial intelligence (AI)-based method for distinguishing speech characteristics in children with and without hearing loss, potentially enhancing screening effectiveness. Additionally, it explores the validation of AI methods to enhance speech intelligibility assessment in children. Furthermore, NALguide, a user-friendly tool from the National Acoustic Laboratories, simplifies the understanding of hearing aid features, making it accessible to both clinicians and patients and promoting informed discussions about hearing aid technologies.

This course will provide a comprehensive overview on hidden hearing loss—characterized by speech-in-noise hearing difficulties that occur even before audiometric thresholds are elevated. Specifically, this course will focus on the impacts of these hearing difficulties, as well as on the search for sensitive, non-invasive biomarkers appropriate for diagnostic purposes, and management interventions to effectively manage these hearing difficulties.

Outcome assessments are an essential component of measuring the effectiveness of clinical care on the individual, demonstrating the impact of clinical services on a population, and evaluating whether new technologies or approaches achieve similar or better results than what is provided currently. This course will discuss approaches that have been developed to ensure that the process of choosing what to measure is centered on what is important from patient and clinical perspectives, with examples from recent work at NAL, and the challenges and pitfalls in choosing how to measure outcomes but also the benefits of doing so carefully and consistently.

This course aims to provide participants with an overview of the clinical bimodal fitting practices and the NAL procedure for fine-tuning a hearing aid for use with a cochlear implant.

After sudden unilateral hearing loss (UHL), single-sided deaf (SSD) listeners are expected gradually to adapt to their UHL through active everyday listening to sounds in the space around them; however, structured training in spatial localization of sound sources can potentially aid in aural rehabilitation for these SSD listeners. This presentation aims to reveal the advantages of such auditory training for SSD listeners (and also listeners with asymmetric hearing loss), particularly when employing a training program designed to attune them to unilateral acoustic cues that can enable them to localize speech sounds under conditions of uncertainty (via blind listening tests).

Build your knowledge with this four-course series presented in partnership with the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL). A world leader in hearing research and innovation, NAL shares applied research outcomes that are practical to a wide range of expertise, from clinical appointments to technology innovation. Maximize your skills and incorporate evidence-based research in your practice with these short, high-impact webinars designed to improve hearing healthcare.

This course discusses ecologically momentary assessment methodologies to evaluate the real-life benefit of present and emerging technologies impacting hearing health and describe the advantages and limitations of the novel methodology. The second half will introduce design thinking and how this human-centered process has been applied to create a solution to help people with hearing difficulties understand conversations better, reduce frustration, and improve communication.

Behavioral Insights can be used to understand and support hearing health decision-making, particularly in the appointment setting. An overview of empowering the individual's first awareness of hearing loss to hearing aid fitting and then to becoming an active hearing aid user will be covered.

This course will provide new diagnostic approaches and remediation strategies for hearing difficulties that are currently undetected. Participants will also receive a review of current tools that may be used in clinics to evaluate auditory speech discrimination skills in infants and toddlers.

This course reviews current innovation happening in technology, services and delivery of hearing health care. NAL (National Acoustic Laboratories) research that informs these changes will be reviewed.