Summary:
The start of the school year often inspires a “Fall refresh,” encouraging professionals to embrace new learning, reconsider established methods, and explore fresh approaches in clinical practice and patient care.
Key Takeaways:
- Growth in audiology mirrors personal growth: revisiting routines, adopting new techniques, and keeping valuable methods that still serve patients well.
- Transparent conversations about pricing and financing can reduce patient stress, build trust, and improve hearing aid adoption.
- Continuous learning—through resources, professional groups, conferences, or new interests—helps clinicians stay inspired, informed, and connected to evolving patient needs.
The beginning of the school year always feels like a fresh start to me, as it still does to many people long after graduating. So just like I do every year at this time, I’m thinking about how I can change and grow. A Fall refresh, if you will.
As a mom, part of my inspiration comes from my daughter. As she takes in lessons from her new teachers and converses with her classmates, I know she’s being exposed to a wide range of ideas and views at school that will change her perspective.
Chief Editor of The Hearing Review
All of this gets me thinking about what new avenues of learning I want to pursue and all the people who have something to teach me, including all of you reading this.
A Fall refresh is also an opportunity to reevaluate what I have been doing and why, so I can be open to new methods, both at work and at home. With so much out of my control in the world today, taking a new approach to what I can change feels empowering and hopeful.
Testing and Techniques
Offering her own perspective on what to focus on, Jane Madell, in her article, “Pediatric Audiology—Wow, How Things Have Changed,” muses on the many different ways she has practiced pediatric audiology through the years and what she deems the most important for hearing care professionals today.
While she has changed her methods as technology has advanced, she has also kept some old tricks in her bag. Not because she was unwilling to change, but because after evaluating their merit she has recognized they provide distinct benefits that complement newer methods. She also shares some pearls of wisdom, including the importance of believing in a patient’s ability to excel in life with the right tools and guidance—an inspiring outlook for all.
Patient Counseling
Another aspect of audiology that HCPs might want to revisit is discussing the cost of hearing aids and other devices and services with patients. It might feel awkward, but it’s an important component of both running an audiology business and meeting patients’ needs.
As Katie Koebel details in her article “Empowering Patient Decisions with Cost Transparency and Accessible Financing,” making prices and payment options including financing a straight-forward, routine part of patient counseling can alleviate patients’ stress about cost that might otherwise cause them to delay device adoption.
Even practices that already employ a similar strategy may benefit from new approaches. In another article, doctors from other healthcare fields share examples of various ways to engage with patients about payment options that might help staff members connect on a more meaningful level with clients and allow them to feel understood, building trust.
Brushing Up and Branching Out
There are of course many ways to gain a fresh perspective. For anyone looking to brush up on important topics, The Hearing Review offers a range of resources including special reports and podcast episodes, in addition to news and articles at www.hearingreview.com.
You might also want to consider joining professional organizations, attending professional conferences, taking a fun class, or becoming a volunteer for a cause you support.
What are you excited to learn more about in audiology right now? What goals do you have for the rest of 2025, heading into 2026? Will you join a new association or maybe even take up a new hobby to broaden your interests and your perspective? Email me at [email protected] and your response could be featured in The Hearing Review.
I hope you feel empowered to rekindle a sense of excitement as you refresh your routines and maybe even your outlook this Fall. I think that’s something we could all use right now.
— Melanie Hamilton-Basich
Featured image: ID 44783029 © Subbotina | Dreamstime.com
