Interview with Robert Traynor Ed.D., Nominee for American Academy of Audiology Board of Directors, Member-At-Large.
AO/Beck: Hi Dr. Traynor, it's an honor to speak with you.
Traynor: Hi Doug, good to speak with you too.
AO/Beck: Before we get into issues related to running for one of the member-at-large positions for the AAA Board of Directors, I'd like to learn a little about you first. Please tell me where you went to school, and perhaps a little about your education and your professional experiences.
Traynor: Sure Doug. I got my doctorate in 1975 at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) in Greeley. When I was there, it was a small program, and I think only five people or so ever got their audiology doctorates from that program. Nonetheless, we had great adjuncts to the faculty, such as Jerry Northern, and Jerry Alpiner. In fact, Raymond Hull was my major advisor during my program.
Regarding my academic involvement, shortly after gettting my doctorate, I worked at UNC for a year, then went to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for a year, and then back to Colorado and was at Northern Colorado until 1982. Following that I worked eleven years at Colorado State as the Director of Audiology. At Colorado State I worked with Jack Willeford and Steve Ackley. We had quite a good program at Colorado State and then the administration folks closed the program.
Regarding private practice, since 1972 I've been involved and interacting with a practice in Greeley, and we really kicked it into high gear once ASHA allowed us to dispense, about 1978 or so. It was great to be involved with dispensing back then. It was an exciting time. Dispensing allowed us to expand our clinical services from diagnosis to treatment, and it allowed us to earn a living. Of course it also allowed us to bring our graduate students more into the mainstream clinical fold, than they could've experienced via speech and hearing clinic exposure only. It seems to me that the academic speech and hearing clinic experience is valuable, but it doesn't really represent the real world environment that most audiologists find themselves practicing in. In many respects, I think dispensing has really allowed audiology to come into it's own. So far almost 30 years I've been involved with academics and private practice issues, and whenever I could, I tried to bring my graduate students into the private practice so they could get the idea of what that was like. The University closed the program in 1993, and since then I've maintained my private practice on a full-time basis.
AO/Beck: How large is your practice at this point?
Traynor: We had expanded over the years to 6 offices, and I think like many audiologists, we found that rapid expansion was probably not the way to go! At this point we have one office and a couple of hospitals around town that we staff. There are two of us in the practice and we're doing fine. We do everything from normal clinical evaluations and intraoperative monitoring to dispensing and we do a little industrial work too. So we're involved with most areas of professional practice.
AO/Beck: And as I recall, you also teach the business course for the University of Florida.
Traynor: Yes, I've been doing that for a little while now in their distance education program and that really is a lot of fun for me, and I think the student s enjoy it too. We'll be running that course again as of the first week of August, 2001.
AO/Beck: So you really are involved in most aspects of practice. Tell me a little about your experience regarding the politics of audiology. At this time you are running for the position of member-at-large for the AAA. Have you held political office before?
Traynor: Yes, back in my university days when I had a little more time and less need to earn a living, I was more involved as a professional volunteer. In fact, in 1990 I was the president of the Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology and I also served as committee chair for lots of ASHA committees in the early days. Also, for the last few years, I've been a consultant for a hearing aid manufacturer on International Issues and that led to my position as the co-chair of the current International Committee for the AAA. Bob Glaser (past-president of the AAA) invited me to co-chair the task force which looked at how to make the AAA a more international group. That is, the AAA wanted to get the international perspective, and wanted to be more inclusive and reflective of international audiology issues and needs. So, I've has the honor of co-chairing that sub-committee with Dave Bagley of the UK, and I think we've made some significant progress regarding international matters. Of course there is more to be done, but we've got a pretty good start on it. One big issue for the immediate future is to see if we can develop international standards for audiology, and as you can imagine, that'll take quite some time! Nonetheless, it's a terrifc challenge and we're working on it.
AO/Beck: I think that is indeed a significant challenge, but certainly worthwhile. As the profession grows the importance of international standards will increase. Currently, the term audiologist has vastly different meanings depending on the country and the language. In some nations it indicates a technician, and in other countries it indicates a physician. You've certainly got your work cut out for you! Let me change the subject a little...Can you address the relationship between AAA and ASHA?
Traynor: Great question. I think we, as the academy, need to be firm in our stance with all other groups involved with hearing. Not just ASHA, but ADA, the AAO-HNS and others too. I think we need to be firm in our commitment to the academy, the profession and the patients, but we also need to be cooperative. We need to work together on issues of mutual benefit, and we need to agree to disagree on some points too. Basically, I think the bottom line is respectful cooperation and collaboration. That's where the future is.
AO/Beck: What about the ADA and the AAA? Any thoughts there?
Traynor: I think the ADA and the AAA have enjoyed a very good and fruitful relationship and I see that as important and very likely to continue. I think some folks worried about ADA losing their autonomy, or maybe the AAA losing theirs, but I think that's all in the past. The two groups basically seem to agree on most major issues, and that is mutually beneficial and worthy of further pursuit.
AO/Beck: What about your role on the Board? If you win the election, how would you impact the AAA Board?
Traynor: I think I bring a lot of practical experience to the Board and because I have been involved in so many areas of academic and clinical practice, and because I have military audiology experience, I think I can help address and sort through the issues.
For instance, I think we need to stay focused on the Au.D., the educational processes for future audiologists, the certification issues, accreditation of Au.D. programs and of course the international issues we mentioned earlier. I think we need to continue to evolve into an independent profession with the primary place of employment being private practice. Another big issue for our profession revolves around ethical issues, and I think I can contribute their too, as I have had to balance the business issues and the professional doctor issues in my own practice. I also think we need to recruit Ph.D. audiologists for the colleges and universities in the very near future, but we cannot accomplish that, unless they are able to earn a decent living. We need to find a way for the academicians to earn a living so we don't lose all of the Ph.Ds to the manufacturers and the computer companies! We need to recruit and maintain our own Ph.Ds and I have a few ideas on how we can do a better job there. Nonetheless, that's a tough situation and it will take time and dedication to solve it.
AO/Beck: Do you have ABA Board Certification?
Traynor: Yes, I do have ABA Board Certification and I'm proud of it. I want to encourage all of your readers to obtain ABA Board certification too. It's important and it's worthwhile. Board Certification is the trend for the future.
AO/Beck: Bob, I wanna thank you for your time. I know you keep a very busy travel and professional schedule and I am very appreciative of your time.
Traynor: Thank you too, Doug. I read Audiology Online quite a bit and I really think you guys do a great job.
AO/Beck: Thanks for the kind words and good luck in the election.
