July 23, 2025 • 48 mins
What stands between hearing care professionals and effective advocacy? Dr. Megan Adams shatters common misconceptions with her doctoral research spanning 400 participants across the United States. The surprising truth? It's not time constraints holding us back...it's knowledge.
Dr. Adams reveals that 95% of hearing healthcare professionals consider legislative issues crucial, and nearly 90% want greater involvement in advocacy efforts. They simply need the roadmap. This groundbreaking finding shifts our entire approach from convincing professionals to make time for advocacy to providing them with practical tools and education.
Throughout our conversation, Dr. Adams dismantles the intimidation factor surrounding advocacy. Contrary to popular belief, most interactions with legislators don't involve debating policy but simply explaining what audiologists do and why quality hearing care matters. Small actions create tremendous impact—inviting officials to tour your clinic, hosting community events that include policymakers, or designating a team member to monitor relevant legislation during staff meetings.
The power of state-level organization emerges as another critical theme. Dr. Adams highlights Indiana's new audiology coalition, which has already hosted a successful conference and is working toward hiring a lobbyist in its first year. These state organizations provide the collective voice needed to address potentially harmful legislation before it passes.
Remember this fundamental truth: decisions affecting hearing healthcare will be made whether you participate or not. By educating policymakers and building community awareness, you ensure those decisions are informed by expertise rather than misconceptions. As Dr. Adams powerfully states, "I'm tired of playing defense. I want to play offense." Are you ready to join the movement transforming hearing healthcare advocacy from reactive to proactive?
Connect with the Hearing Matters Podcast Team
Email: hearingmatterspodcast@gmail.com
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Twitter: @hearing_mattas
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (00:19):
Thank you to our partners.
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(00:42):
Welcome back to another episodeof the Hearing Matters Podcast.
I'm founder and host, blaiseDelfino, and, as a friendly
reminder, this podcast isseparate from my work at Starkey
.
You're tuned in to the HearingMatters Podcast, the show that
discusses hearing technology,best practices and a global
(01:04):
epidemic hearing loss.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and joining me today is my
colleague, dr Megan Adams.
She is an audiologist atLafayette Hearing Center in
Indiana.
Dr Adams, welcome to theHearing Matters podcast.
Thank you so much for having meto the Hearing Matters podcast.
(01:24):
Thank you so much for having me, megan, you and I have had
countless conversations aboutadvocacy hearing health care,
really within the last 18 to 24months, and before we dive into
your thesis, which you wroteduring your doctoral studies, I
want you to share a little bitabout yourself with our
(01:46):
listeners.
You've made quite the wave inthe hearing health industry,
personally and professionally.
I really do admire yourgo-giver attitude, your passion
for making change, not justtalking about the change that we
need to see, but making ithappen.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou and really, what got you
(02:06):
introduced to audiology, sure?
Dr. Megan Adams (02:09):
absolutely so.
I started out, I was at Purdueand I picked the wrong major,
like a lot of 18 year olds whothink they know what they want
to do for the rest of theirlives.
And I was wrong.
But I started working for thepractice I'm currently working
at now as an assistant and Irealized wrong.
But I started working for thepractice I'm currently working
at now as an assistant and Irealized very quickly that I
just loved it.
(02:30):
I loved working with theseadults.
I loved talking about hearingloss.
I loved working with familiesand talking about communication.
It just it.
It hit home for me big time andat that point I just the rest
was history.
I just knew that's what Iwanted to do.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (02:48):
And it's almost like with hearing
healthcare unless you have apersonal tie to it or we've
heard stories of audiologistsand hearing healthcare
professionals.
I was diagnosed with hearingloss.
My mother started wearinghearing aids.
I was diagnosed with hearingloss.
My mother started wearinghearing aids.
So you were exposed to hearinghealth care in your early 20s,
(03:08):
and look where you are now andwhat you've accomplished today
and how many lives you'veimpacted.
So, Megan, you are a ListenCarefully ambassador.
Listen Carefully is a programfocused on advocacy, education
and news specific to hearinghealth care, and you wrote a
thesis on advocacy.
(03:28):
Bring us through this process.
What led you to focus on yourdoctoral thesis on advocacy?
Like, what did you learn?
Right now, we sort of want tolook under the hood of like,
what did this research tell us?
We want to know all about it.
So tell us more did thisresearch?
Dr. Megan Adams (03:47):
tell us?
We want to know all about it,so tell us more.
So I realized a continuingpattern when I was going through
clinicals and had rotations,and it was that, even though
every hearing care professionalwas different, they all seemed
to complain that there wereissues in our industry, that xyz
was a problem, and then itwould always follow with and
that will never change andthere's nothing we can do about
(04:10):
this, or it will always be thisway.
And as a student especially, itcreated this sense of
hopelessness.
And, oh my goodness, am Ireally entering an industry that
feels that way, that feelshopeless about the future, that
feels like there's not anythingwe can do?
And so, like many of mycolleagues in the industry, I'm
(04:31):
a little type A.
I want to fix things, I like tofind solutions.
And so I decided to collect data.
I collected data from over 400participants across the United
States I did not isolate to justone state to find out what they
considered the importance oflegislative and congressional
(04:52):
issues, how involved they were,if they weren't involved, what
were the barriers to beinginvolved, and then looking at
the solutions to those barriers.
So again, I didn't just want tolook at are you involved or are
you not?
Do you want to be or do you notwant to be?
But how do I help you?
(05:14):
How do I provide a solution foryou to be able to do that more,
if that's something that youwant to do, that's important to
you?
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HI (05:22):
So you had a sample size of an N
of 400.
How did you go about recruiting400?
Like what was that process like?
Because, especially as itrelates to hearing healthcare,
when you say hearing loss orhearing aids, most people are
like, oh, I don't really knowmuch about that.
And then you sort of put on theadvocacy and you know the
(05:43):
advocacy efforts on top of that.
So who was your N of 400?
Dr. Megan Adams (05:48):
It was audiologists, hearing instrument
specialists, speechpathologists and audiology and
speech pathology students.
And I specifically includedstudents in that pool because
they are our futureprofessionals and one of the
major barriers that I found wasthat the universities are not
(06:14):
all laying the foundation forthe students, when they become
professionals, to be informedand be ready to enter the
industry to advocate effectively.
And so it was a wide array ofpeople across the United States.
I wanted to include bothaudiology and speech pathology
because in many states thoselicensure boards are connected.
(06:36):
Much of the legislation ismutually effective with each
other, so what affects oneindustry will often affect the
other.
So it's a pretty wide range.
But again, I wanted to have alarge sample size because I
wanted to look.
I didn't just want to look atthe Midwest or just the East
Coast, I wanted to includeeveryone.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (06:58):
And thank you so much for doing
that, because if you just keptit closed off to one part of the
country, it's like, well,hearing loss and hearing
healthcare, as we say in thebeginning, is a global epidemic.
But of course we just wanted tokeep it national in terms of
your research, because it makessense from an advocacy
(07:18):
standpoint of the policyspecific to our country.
Let's talk about barriers toour country.
Let's talk about barriers.
So we have this preconceivednotion of there's so much.
You know, the sky is falling inaudiology, especially when OTC
was initially announced, and Ihave to commend you, dr Adams,
because you saw that there was aproblem or a challenge and you
(07:41):
said I'm going to dig deeper.
So thank you for doing that forour industry, because that,
like hopelessness of first ofall, you were saying that you
chose a major that you're like Idon't know about, and then you
go into audiology and then it'slike, oh my gosh, I feel
hopeless.
But you said, nope, I am goingto keep pushing forward, I'm
(08:02):
going to find out the why behindthis, and you absolutely did
that in terms of the barriersthat were revealed in your
research.
So tell us more about thebarriers to advocacy in our
field.
Dr. Megan Adams (08:15):
Going into the study, I fully theorized that
time was going to be the mainissue or lack of people may not
care.
So I thought that I kind ofunderestimated our industry,
honestly, and so I thought, oh,people will say I don't have
time for that, I can't take aday away from my clinic, or, you
(08:38):
know, fill in the blank.
And I was wrong.
I was very, very wrong aboutthat.
95% of participants said thatthey thought these issues were
incredibly important, and almost90% of them said that they
would like to be involved ormore involved than they are
right now, and so that initialhypothesis was wrong.
(08:58):
And my second hypothesis thatwas completely wrong was that
time was not the barrier, it wasknowledge, and that was huge to
me because it told me thatpeople are willing to make the
time.
They're willing to make ithappen because these issues are
important to them and to theirindustry.
They just don't know how, and Ithought I can't make more time,
(09:18):
but I can certainly inform, andso what's really neat about
solutions like this is thatthere's not just one single
solution, there are lots ofsolutions, and I love that
because it means that thesolutions are versatile and
audiologists and hearing careprofessionals are versatile, and
(09:39):
being able to meet you whereyou are in your industry, so
that you can be involved andhave better outcomes on the
other side, is really what it'sall about.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HI (09:51):
So , megan, with this research, we
know time is throw that out thewindow because hearing care
professionals and even students,they want to be more involved,
they want to see a change, and Ithink it's important.
There's a difference betweenpolitics and policy.
We're talking about policyright here.
(10:12):
Hearing health care isbipartisan.
We know the research that'sbeen connected to untreated
hearing loss and lost USearnings.
And communication, again, isthe exchange of ideas, language,
a code in which ideas areshared, and then speech is that
neuromuscular process.
That's why hearing healthcareprofessionals, slps, we all work
(10:35):
together to help our patientshear life's stories is really
what we say Now, megan, one ofthe reasons why advocacy is so
important to me personally, if Ican just share a brief story,
I'm a former private practiceowner, genetically predisposed
to hearing health care.
(10:55):
It was during COVID when I andour team really started to
become more involved witheducating elected officials in
our community.
Because in Pennsylvania, wherewe were closed down for almost
three and a half four months andset aside the business aspect
of that, my patients reallydidn't have access to me.
(11:16):
So of course we were leveragingand leaning into telehealth and
things of that nature.
I was literally driving topatients' homes and doing
cleaning checks on their frontporch.
We did what we had to do andthen I had a call with Michael
Scholl.
He is the EVP of customerrelations at Starkey and he was
like Blaise, start to educateyour policymakers in
(11:39):
Pennsylvania.
And I said, done.
That turned into us invitingSenator Scavello into our office
.
Megan, we gave him a tour, wedid video otoscopy, we educated
him and we started with himbecause he was at one of our
ribbon cutting events.
So we're like, okay, let'swhat's like some low hanging
fruit of individuals that weknow.
(12:00):
That was so important.
Because what that turned intoMegan was.
Then he invited my father and Ionto his legislative report,
which for months patients werelike we saw you on TV.
I didn't care that.
Patients saw us on TV, I sawthat number one we're making an
impact, we're raising awarenessof hearing healthcare.
(12:20):
Senator Scavello knows abouthearing healthcare, the impact
of untreated hearing loss, andthen it just kind of really
started to gain more traction.
So I wanted to share thatpersonal story.
I know you're going to sharesome stories as well with
integrating your electedofficials, but I will tell you
the time aspect.
We threw that out the windowtoo.
(12:40):
We threw that out the windowtoo, because it's so important
to us but most important for ourpatients.
So you talk about building aculture of advocacy and there's
so many of our colleagues we seein the hearing healthcare
Facebook groups that are goingto the hill and they're making
change and they're being loud.
It's the only time which isimportant to be loud.
(13:02):
Turn down that volume so youdon't get hearing loss.
That's a dad joke right there.
But building a culture ofadvocacy when you talk about the
importance of starting advocacyeducation in the AUD and SLP
programs, you know professorsonly have in.
(13:22):
You know, for SLP it's twoyears, for your master's and
then AD it's four years.
Time is of the essence.
How can we do this?
Why is it so important to startat the collegiate level?
Dr. Megan Adams (13:36):
So informed students are going to create
informed professionals.
And starting at the level whereyou're taking in most of your
knowledge, when you're enteringthe industry as a professional,
is the best place to add this.
And truly I would urgeuniversities if this is not in
(13:57):
your curriculum at all, itshould be, and it doesn't mean
it has to be an entire course.
It doesn't mean it has to be anentire section of your course.
You could spend just a coupleof classes talking about this,
discussing this, the what behindit, what is advocacy, what is
lobbying?
What are the big ways to do it?
What are the smaller, easierways to do it?
(14:19):
What can it look like?
And then the how do I do this?
How do I make this happen?
How do you speak to a policymaker?
How do you do these things?
And then they will know,entering whatever field of
audiology they decide to go into, how to do that more
effectively students becomeinformed professionals, and
(14:44):
those informed professionals canhelp their patients make
educated hearing health caredecisions.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (14:49):
See , we have the connection here,
megan.
So we have hearing careprofessionals tune into our show
weekly and many of them areprivate practice owners.
How can private practice ownersand clinicians, you know, see
themselves as part of theadvocacy solution, even if they
(15:09):
don't?
Now, here's the thing even ifthey don't see themselves as
persuasive or political you andI were kind of talking about
this a couple weeks ago, becausethat's often like we talk about
.
Sometimes the mountain is usGreat book, by the way.
We see ourselves as not beinglike persuasive or political.
It's not me.
Well, how can we get over thatbarrier, that that self talk of
(15:30):
like, oh, I can't make adifference?
Dr. Megan Adams (15:33):
Like you said earlier, it's a from the
political aspect, it's anonpartisan issue and so,
respectfully, we don't care whoyou voted for in the last
election, but we do care if theaudiology legislation in your
state affects your business andaffects the care that your
patients deserve, and I think wecan all agree on that.
(15:55):
So that's really where we'reall on the same team here.
You do not have to have apersuasive personality.
Most of the time when I've beeninvolved directly with a
legislator, I spend very littletime actually talking about
policy.
It's typically talking aboutaudiology.
What do you do in a day?
(16:16):
What is an audiologist?
What does good hearing carelook like?
Why is it important that theyknow what good hearing care
looks like?
It's oftentimes you don't haveto try and persuade on a
decision for a bill.
In fact, I would probably saythe majority of the time you
don't have to do that.
But it comes down to themisconceptions that people have
(16:39):
about advocacy and lobbying, andone of my favorite things I did
on this data was I had anopen-ended portion where people
could put comments in and, asI'm sure you can imagine, they
were all over the place and someof the comments were you know
well, I'm retiring, so whyshould I get involved?
(16:59):
And others were.
Well, when there's largeorganizations like X national
audiology organization, then youknow we're hopeless.
I mean these are real thingsthat people were saying and I
realized, oh my goodness, peopleare just misinformed.
(17:19):
And it's the samemisinformation that we get
frustrated about asprofessionals, that we see on
Facebook and in the media, thatwe think, oh my goodness, I hate
that patients are seeing.
That it's the same.
I feel the same way about theinformation that hearing care
professionals are getting andbelieving and informing opinions
(17:41):
on.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (17:43):
Well , especially the up
andand-coming hearing careprofessionals.
When we talk about legacy andyour advocacy efforts, advocacy
isn't okay.
I'm going to take three daysand I'm going to go to
Washington DC.
That's not only what advocacyis.
Advocacy can also be I'm goingto make a 30 second selfie video
(18:05):
and I'm going to talk to mypatients about the importance of
hearing healthcare and thenmaybe you tag one of your
elected officials.
But I will say that theimportance of advocacy,
education and news as it relatesto even Hearing Matters podcast
(18:26):
one of the reasons, personally,I'm so excited for the podcast.
We've been doing this for sixyears now.
We want to educate hearing careprofessionals and consumers and
there's been some states therewas no malicious intent to do
this, but it's just policymakersweren't educated on hearing
(18:47):
health care.
This is where I'm getting atreplacing a licensure with
registration.
There's been a couple stateswhere that's been in the bill
replacing hearing aid licensurewith registration.
Can you, for our listeners andconsumers, tuned in, can you
share with us why that isimportant to find in a bill and
(19:08):
actually have reversed so itdoesn't even ever get passed,
why licensure is so important?
Dr. Megan Adams (19:25):
accountability.
And unfortunately, I know we'veall heard those horror stories
of the practice in our statehopefully not in all of our
communities that has done XYZ oryou know, is doing things
fraudulently or performingservices that they are not
licensed to perform or you know,fill in the blank, but
unfortunately it's those kind ofbad apples, as we've talked
about, that kind of sour it foreveryone else.
(19:47):
And so this accountability atthe state level is incredibly
important.
I would urge every professionalif you've never looked at your
scope of practice for your state, go look at it.
See if it's vague, See if it'sdetailed, see if it is accurate
and if it's not, try to havethat conversation if you're
(20:07):
comfortable.
And one of the issues that cameup a few years ago in Indiana
was to deregulate the sale ofhearing aids and that would have
significantly impactedeveryone's practice, our
credibility as professionals,but then, most importantly, our
patients' care.
(20:27):
We know because of bestpractice guidelines and data and
research that supportsevidence-based practice, that
would be far from what's bestfor our patients.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (20:38):
Well , and the challenge there again,
the deregulation can often comeat a cost, especially as it
relates to health care.
And again, oftentimes, theauthors of the bill.
There's no malicious intent.
Oftentimes it will be thisumbrella of okay, let's replace
licensure with registration forbarbers, and let's also include
(21:02):
hearing aid dispensers in theretoo, which is like that's
totally different scope.
This is the importance oflobbying, of reading those bills
, of contacting the authors ofthose bills.
But, megan, about 18 to 24months ago and this, I still say
this to this day and I alwaysquote you you had said Blaise,
(21:26):
I'm tired of playing defense, Iwant to play offense.
Tell me more about what youmean there and why that's so
important today in hearinghealthcare.
Dr. Megan Adams (21:38):
Historically, we have always waited for an
issue to come up and then we tryand attack the issue, and
that's exactly what happenedwith this deregulation of
hearing aid sales in IndianaHouse bill is it slipped under
the radar time and time againand we got to the very end and
(21:58):
everyone went, oh shoot, we needto address this.
And so everyone rushed down tothe state house and explained
why this really wasn't inpatient's best interest, and
then it was unanimous at thatpoint, and I'm grateful for the
professionals that went down anddid that.
But is there a way to preventit from even getting to that
point?
And what it comes down to isusing your hearing aids versus
(22:23):
barber, example.
If our policymakers knew whathearing care is, what an
audiologist or hearing careprofessional does, then that
entire situation probably couldhave been avoided, because many
of them would have said my XYZwears hearing aids and their
audiologist is fantastic.
And I know they're not the samething as a barber.
(22:44):
Nothing against barbers, wejust do different things, and
simply being informed on thatcould have completely changed
the game.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (22:54):
And we have hearing healthcare
professionals tuned in right nowwho might be asking well, how
the heck do I raise awareness,even in my own community?
Because hearing health care isabsolutely 120% not 100% 120%
community-based.
So, megan, when I was inpractice, we would have podcast
(23:17):
days specific for our patients,which was great, and we closed
down the office for a day.
It was a great team-buildingexercise as well and I would
interview key opinion leaders inthe industry, but mostly
patients who wore hearingtechnology, and that's a way
that we could advocate and raiseawareness of hearing healthcare
in our community.
(23:38):
But we would also inviteelected officials so we would
block off like an hour.
We would bring them in otoscopy, show them the equipment I
would encourage conducting afull audiological evaluation if
time allows and then, of course,share the technology with them.
It's an educational opportunityhave coffee and light
(24:02):
refreshments, things of thatnature.
So that's what our familypractice did and continues to do
today in terms of educating thecommunity.
But, megan, tell us whatLafayette Hearing Center is
doing today to educate yourpatients, educate your community
, and how are you, as a ListenCarefully ambassador, bringing
(24:22):
the most current legislation toyour clinic and educating?
So three barrel question.
Dr. Megan Adams (24:29):
So I'll start by saying that, again, this is
versatile, advocacy can beversatile, and so for some there
might be a solution that worksreally, really well, and for
some that solution may not workwell for them at all.
And part of what I'm working onand Listen Carefully is working
on is what's the roadmap forpeople to use.
(24:51):
How do we provide resources andmake it easier for people to
fit this into their day-to-daypractice in a way that meets
them where they are and is easyfor them to implement?
For some people, like you said,invite your elected officials
in your state and offer to testtheir hearing, offer to show
them around the clinic.
It can be that simple.
(25:12):
What we have recently done atLafayette Hearing Center is we
had an appreciation event forour patients, and so they were
the focus, of course, but we usethat as an opportunity to
invite the mayor and invitestate representatives and anyone
that was able to make it,because it was a good
opportunity for them, becausethey get to be around their
(25:32):
constituents and the people thatthey're representing day in and
day out, and the patients gotto see those officials and
interact with them, and we wereable to bring community
awareness awareness at the statelevel.
It was really, really fantasticand it's an easy way to get
(25:56):
some eyes on hearing care and,more importantly, get some eyes
on good quality hearing carethat's evidence-based, where
your patients are getting thebest care possible.
Blaise M. Delfino, M (26:07):
Absolutely .
And so much to unpack there, drAdams, because you had a theme.
It was a luau theme, I believecorrect, yes, and Dr Juliet St
Sterkens she presented.
I love this setup of what youdid because this is absolutely
advocacy.
You're incorporating yourpatients, you're incorporating
(26:28):
your community.
Your elected officials, theirconstituents, are there and I'm
sure it was such a breath offresh air of wow.
We're giving back to ourcommunity.
Our patients are here, you'reeducating them on the updated,
most recent technology andyou've created a hearing home
for your patients.
We believe hearing health carein the hands of the hearing care
(26:51):
professional has the bestoutcomes.
Sure, the debate of access andaffordability we've been having
for many years now.
It is my professional beliefthat the A4 mentioned is true
and there's, of course, data toback that up.
But when you went aboutinviting elected officials to
(27:11):
this event, again, we sayhearing healthcare is bipartisan
.
It Doesn't matter whetheryou're a Republican or Democrat.
We all need to work together toaddress this challenge.
How did you go about invitingthese elected officials?
Was it a heavy lift?
What did that look like?
Kind of, bring us through thatprocess, absolutely.
Dr. Megan Adams (27:32):
That is still a work in progress.
The first thing that you needto do is look at the session
schedule for your state, andthat varies a little bit from
state to state, but there areresources online to help you
find out what that schedulelooks like.
And then it's as simple assending an email, making a phone
call and I was pleasantlysurprised at how easy it was to
(27:56):
get ahold of our senators and itsome of them.
They would respond and say youknow, I have a commitment in
this county that day, so Ireally I can't make it, but I'd
love to, and some are able tocome.
But what I'm, what we're tryingto do right now, is to again
create a roadmap and a frameworkto help professionals know
(28:20):
what's the timeline look like,what do I need to do two months
in advance or six months inadvance, and an email template
that I can send, and what kindsof information are going to be
important to include in thisinvitation so that they're more
likely to come.
What's going to be impactful inthis invitation so that they're
more likely to come.
(28:40):
What's going to be impactful?
And I also think it's worthmentioning that I didn't talk
about a single policy or bill oranything during that visit.
We just talked about audiologyand hearing care and the
telecoil loops and or a cast inour community.
It was just all about audiologynerd stuff, so it was not even
(29:01):
about policy.
So it's not complicated.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (29:05):
Well , and I'm sure that the elected
official appreciated that aswell, because, at the end of the
day, we're all human, likebecause they're in office, it
doesn't mean that they have thislike supernatural human power.
No, we are both humans.
We have two eyes, two ears anda mouth.
We're on that same plane and Iam absolutely sure that your
(29:26):
passion for hearing healthcare,for helping your patients, bled
through these conversations, drAdams, because, again, your
advocacy efforts.
Thank you so much for whatyou're doing for the industry
and there's so many others inour industry.
But we are the most sociallyconnected demographic to ever
exist, and I've been saying thisa lot lately, and the reason I
(29:46):
keep saying it is we are themost socially connected
demographic to ever exist.
That means that we transferinformation so fast.
That means that we transferinformation so fast.
Let's leverage the media todayto educate on the importance of
hearing healthcare.
You know it doesn't matter.
I understand there are someorganizations that have these
(30:06):
big budgets and what have you?
You're able to connect tobillions of people through your
phone, through your social mediachannels.
Now, granted, it's challengingto do, sometimes with the
algorithms, but one way youcould do this, and one way I did
this is to get the attention ofan elected official.
Start tagging them in yoursocial media copy, say, hey, you
(30:27):
know, even make a video.
I would say, let's say you wereSenator Megan Adams.
Senator Megan Adams, blaiseDelfino, here with Audiology
Services, I would love to inviteyou to my office to learn more
about hearing healthcare and whyit's important to preserve your
hearing things of that nature.
So I welcome your thoughtsthere with that approach, megan.
Dr. Megan Adams (30:47):
Absolutely.
I mean I think that's right.
There is what I love aboutadvocacy because I think
historically the reason peoplehave struggled so much with the
how is that there isn't a singlehow.
There's lots.
And the more we think outsidethe box, the more versatile it
gets, the more ways there are toadvocate.
(31:09):
I mean it could be as simple asyou have one person on your team
in your practice that monthlylooks at the current audiology
legislation in your state andwhen you have your monthly
meeting as a team in yourpractice, that monthly looks at
the current audiologylegislation in your state and
when you have your monthlymeeting as a team, they take two
minutes to update your team.
Nope, there's nothing going onthis month.
Or we have house bill X andit's looking at scope of
(31:29):
practice.
It could be that simple to keepyour team informed.
I would encourage you if youare in a state and you don't
know if there's activelegislation about scope of
practice right now, go take alook because there are almost
130 active pieces of legislationin the United States right now
that could affect audiology.
(31:49):
So it's a big deal and it'swidespread and the again the
advocacy can be very small.
You can go to DC and I'dencourage you to do that.
If that's something that youwant to do, that's important to
you.
But it can be as simple as inyour office a two minute piece
of your team meeting or invitingthe mayor to your office for a
(32:13):
cup of coffee.
Like you said, it can be very,very simple.
Community outreach eventswhatever is going to tell your
community.
Engage your community and yourlocal officials, your elected
officials, to be involved anddon't always treat them like
elected officials.
Like you said, they're humanstoo.
(32:33):
They are also your patients andthe family members of your
patients, and they are alsooften in the demographic that
has hearing loss.
So invite them to any patientevents, have a cup of coffee
with them, make it fun and don'ttalk about policy necessarily.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (32:51):
Yeah , it doesn't have to be dry.
Dr. Megan Adams (32:53):
It doesn't have to be boring.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (32:56):
And Megan, what I love is you're
talking about.
So let me ask you let me justslow the roll here Are you that
team member at Lafayette HearingCenter who raises awareness and
lets the team know whatlegislation is impacting your
state?
Yes, or your scope, I would sayI am.
Dr. Megan Adams (33:15):
But I also thought about it from another
perspective and thought if Iwasn't that person, what would?
What would the solution be?
And I thought that is a reallysimple monthly job to give to
one person in your office.
It could be another audiologist, it could be an assistant, it
could be a back office worker,it could be anyone that is able
(33:38):
to just look at current events.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS (33:42):
I love that idea.
I mean, first and foremost, Ithink every clinic should have a
morning huddle, just so youknow what the heck is going on
for the day, because I rememberwhen I was practicing, the
mornings we didn't have a huddle.
It was like holy smokes what'sgoing on here today.
But another idea for ourhearing care professionals tuned
in is when you do have thesemorning huddles that do include,
(34:03):
you know, a two to three minuteupdate, legislative update.
Snap a photo of your teammeeting and that's a social
media post that you can put onyour clinic Facebook, your
clinic Instagram media poststhat you can put on your clinic
Facebook, your clinic Instagramtag.
Some of your elected officialsleverage the media that you have
at your fingertips.
It's real simple to just take acouple seconds and snap a photo
(34:27):
.
Dr Adams, earlier you hadmentioned the importance of
state organization and prior tohitting record today, I said I
didn't even realize that you andI are recording, and then,
right after, we have Dr LindsayCoble who's coming on the show,
and both of you are in Indiana.
(34:48):
So there's some newdevelopments going on in Indiana
as it relates to this newcoalition.
Tell me more about this.
Why is it such a big step, andhow do you see yourself being
involved?
Dr. Megan Adams (35:04):
So Indiana did not have a state audiology
organization and Dr LindsayCoble and Dr Erica Person came
together and said came togetherand said, let's start one.
And I admire both of themimmensely for doing that.
And it has just taken off likewildfire Again, like the data
(35:29):
supports.
People care about these issues.
They just need the how, theyneed the knowledge, and I
respect both of them so much forcreating an organization, this
audiology coalition, where ourprofessionals can come together
and get that knowledge andnetwork with each other and have
mutual understanding of what dowe want audiology care to look
(35:53):
like in Indiana.
And they've I mean, it's year,it's year one, and I just can't
even believe what they'veaccomplished in that year.
So in joining what?
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (36:01):
are some of the big wins, like what
have you all accomplished?
Dr. Megan Adams (36:04):
Cause I'm excited to know they had a
fantastic first conference withgood attendance and great
speakers and great networking.
And people have just raved andraved and raved about that,
which I have heard nothing butreally good things about what
everyone thought of that firstconference.
And that's year one.
I mean, what a huge win.
(36:26):
They're working on hiring alobbyist.
As we all know, that's notsomething that happens overnight
, but there's power in numbers,which goes back to why it's so
incredibly important to jointhat state organization so that
you can support your state atthat level.
And they're able to hire alobbyist and they're able to
address issues like when a housebill, like in Indiana, slides
(36:49):
under the radar and comes in atthe last minute.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (36:52):
Many thanks to Dr Coble and Dr
Person for kickstartingIndiana's new coalition.
I feel like I have so manyfriends now in Indiana like Matt
Hay, james Shrake with ReduxU.
Our professional network isgrowing in Indiana for sure.
That's exciting news about thelobbyist and so that's a state
(37:15):
coalition.
Indiana's never had this before.
So I'm super excited to hearabout the lobbyist and so that's
a state coalition.
Indiana's never had this before.
So I'm super excited to hearabout the developments.
National resources like alisten carefully.
You know why is it importantfor professionals to also become
active members of theseorganizations, to really get
involved with advocacy fromtheir desk.
Dr. Megan Adams (37:38):
So there are resources from Listen Carefully,
aaa, where you can actuallysign up for alerts when there's
major legislation occurringfederally or in your state, and
it can be as simple as the clickof a button to send an email.
And again there's power innumbers.
We know it's going to be moreeffective if you can back it up
(38:00):
with an anecdote, if you can sayhere's why this matters to me,
here's the story that I have tosupport this XYZ.
But even if you're not able todo that, even if the only thing
you have time for that day is tohit send, then organizations
have made it very, very easy tostay informed and to again not
(38:24):
even leave your desk.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (38:26):
Well , and what's nice too is the
development.
You go to listencarefullyorg,you go to take action and then
you have that voter voiceintegration tool where it has
updated legislation.
But if you are a hearing careprofessional, again
listencarefullyorg, go to thevoter voice tool.
You can contact your stateelected officials.
(38:48):
You can send them a message.
All of their contactinformation is accurate.
It is up to date.
So that was a really cooldevelopment that Listen
Carefully had introduced.
Special thanks to MichaelScholl and Lou Kellyer, and we
know that yourself and fellowListen Carefully ambassadors
have utilized that tool.
(39:08):
Megan, I want to switch gearshere a little bit and talk about
community-based advocacy inyour practice.
So we talked about your localcommunity event patient
appreciation event, let's callit.
Ironically, this morning Ireceived a text message from a
colleague who works at a firedepartment and I know that your
(39:32):
organization is collaboratingwith your local fire department,
so this is absolutely part ofadvocacy.
There's been research done asit relates to firefighters and
hearing loss.
Bring us through this advocacyeffort why it's important and
what really kickstarted it.
Dr. Megan Adams (39:52):
So this is a really mutually beneficial way
for practices to be involved intheir community, build their
business, provide good patientcare.
It just it kind of hitseverything that you want,
oftentimes locally at the statelevel, there's some kind of
(40:12):
funding or grant for protectionlike this.
We know how important it is,and I'm sure many of us have
seen law enforcement officers,firefighters, emergency workers
that have noise related hearingloss, and so it's a really easy
way to to give back to yourcommunity, to support them, to
also support your business andto make an impact.
(40:35):
It's a again like there areways to do this that benefit
your business and give yourpatients the care that they
deserve.
It does not have to be that yougive, give, give.
It is mutually beneficial.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (40:49):
And the importance of protecting
your hearing.
We talk about, okay, untrudedhearing loss being linked to all
of these differentcomorbidities, but let's also
talk about protecting ourhearing up front as it relates
to our public health officialsthings of that nature, thank you
, and Lafayette Hearing Centerfor doing that, because that's
so important.
I have family members who arefirefighters as well, and it's
(41:11):
like we have to protect thosewho protect us and serve our
community.
Dr. Megan Adams (41:17):
The other thing , blaise, that I love about
things like this is that whenwe're in small communities like
Listen Carefully and evenaudiology as a whole is really a
fairly small industry ideaslike this take off, and so I
know there are other practicesthat are implementing these same
kinds of programs in theircommunities, and it's just it's
(41:39):
really great to see that peopleare getting creative with this
and trying different kinds ofoutreach, because it just all
trickles down into your patientoutcomes.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. (41:48):
Talking about patient outcomes, megan.
How does educating yourcommunity affect patient
outcomes and even yourpractice's growth?
Dr. Megan Adams (42:00):
So the decisions that are made that
affect our industry are going tobe made regardless of the
knowledge that backs them up,and I think that is really
really critical because thedecisions made really really
critical, because the decisionsmade whether you're involved in
(42:21):
it or not, whether you haveinformed anyone or not, and so
advocating in your community,locally, at a state level,
however, you can snowballs, andso it gives better patient
access.
It allows your patients to beinformed, which, again going
(42:41):
back to the bad apples, they cantell the difference if they're
informed and they can come tothe practices that they know are
going to take good care of themand follow evidence-based
practices.
It is better for workplacedevelopment.
I mean it trickles down and allof these things, as we know
(43:02):
from goodness, research anddifferent books that come to
mind.
It all goes hand in hand.
Taking care of your community,taking care of your industry,
taking care of your business andyour employees.
Your patients are going to getbetter care and they're going to
get better outcomes.
And when patients come intoyour practice, they can tell
when you genuinely care aboutwhat you do.
(43:25):
And I will sometimes even say ifmy patients talk about you know
I'm frustrated about this andthat and you know why do I have
to get a referral for this orfill in the blank?
It's really easy to say.
You know I have worked reallyhard with a lot of other
audiologists and hearing careprofessionals to try and address
that.
It just doesn't happenovernight.
(43:45):
But I can assure you I amworking hard, and so are a lot
of other people, and that's allthey can ask for.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (43:53):
And I love how you and your team
let your patients know we'reworking on this and that shows
innovation is such an umbrellaterm, because it's not just
technology innovation, it'sadvocacy innovation.
Dr Megan Adams, I cannot thankyou enough for your advocacy,
(44:13):
for your passion, for yourexcitement.
Advocacy for your passion, foryour excitement.
I hope to join one of Indiana'scoalitions meetings one day and
kind of see what the culture islike, because I feel like it's
just, it's incredible.
I get a feeling from hundredsof miles away that it's just
(44:33):
such a great group.
Megan, I really want to thankyou for joining us today on the
Hearing Matters podcast.
This has been a conversationthat we've been talking about
for quite some time, but thetime was absolutely now.
Final takeaway if you couldleave one message with our
fellow hearing careprofessionals about advocacy,
(44:56):
what would it be?
Dr. Megan Adams (45:00):
Advocacy in many different forms, whether
it's big or small, is going tolead to better business
practices and better patientoutcomes.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS (45:11):
I love that, and better patient
outcomes absolutely not onlyhelp the industry but, most
importantly, help the patient.
You're tuned in to the HearingMatters podcast.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and until next time, hear life's
story.
Thank you to our partners.
Cycle, built for the entirehearing care practice.
Redux, the best dryer.
Hands down Caption call bySorenson.
Life is calling CareCredit.
Here today to help more peoplehear tomorrow.
Faderplugs the world's firstcustom adjustable earplug.
(00:42):
Welcome back to another episodeof the Hearing Matters Podcast.
I'm founder and host, blaiseDelfino, and, as a friendly
reminder, this podcast isseparate from my work at Starkey
.
You're tuned in to the HearingMatters Podcast, the show that
discusses hearing technology,best practices and a global
(01:04):
epidemic hearing loss.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and joining me today is my
colleague, dr Megan Adams.
She is an audiologist atLafayette Hearing Center in
Indiana.
Dr Adams, welcome to theHearing Matters podcast.
Thank you so much for having meto the Hearing Matters podcast.
(01:24):
Thank you so much for having me, megan, you and I have had
countless conversations aboutadvocacy hearing health care,
really within the last 18 to 24months, and before we dive into
your thesis, which you wroteduring your doctoral studies, I
want you to share a little bitabout yourself with our
(01:46):
listeners.
You've made quite the wave inthe hearing health industry,
personally and professionally.
I really do admire yourgo-giver attitude, your passion
for making change, not justtalking about the change that we
need to see, but making ithappen.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou and really, what got you
(02:06):
introduced to audiology, sure?
Dr. Megan Adams (02:09):
absolutely so.
I started out, I was at Purdueand I picked the wrong major,
like a lot of 18 year olds whothink they know what they want
to do for the rest of theirlives.
And I was wrong.
But I started working for thepractice I'm currently working
at now as an assistant and Irealized wrong.
But I started working for thepractice I'm currently working
at now as an assistant and Irealized very quickly that I
just loved it.
(02:30):
I loved working with theseadults.
I loved talking about hearingloss.
I loved working with familiesand talking about communication.
It just it.
It hit home for me big time andat that point I just the rest
was history.
I just knew that's what Iwanted to do.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (02:48):
And it's almost like with hearing
healthcare unless you have apersonal tie to it or we've
heard stories of audiologistsand hearing healthcare
professionals.
I was diagnosed with hearingloss.
My mother started wearinghearing aids.
I was diagnosed with hearingloss.
My mother started wearinghearing aids.
So you were exposed to hearinghealth care in your early 20s,
(03:08):
and look where you are now andwhat you've accomplished today
and how many lives you'veimpacted.
So, Megan, you are a ListenCarefully ambassador.
Listen Carefully is a programfocused on advocacy, education
and news specific to hearinghealth care, and you wrote a
thesis on advocacy.
(03:28):
Bring us through this process.
What led you to focus on yourdoctoral thesis on advocacy?
Like, what did you learn?
Right now, we sort of want tolook under the hood of like,
what did this research tell us?
We want to know all about it.
So tell us more did thisresearch?
Dr. Megan Adams (03:47):
tell us?
We want to know all about it,so tell us more.
So I realized a continuingpattern when I was going through
clinicals and had rotations,and it was that, even though
every hearing care professionalwas different, they all seemed
to complain that there wereissues in our industry, that xyz
was a problem, and then itwould always follow with and
that will never change andthere's nothing we can do about
(04:10):
this, or it will always be thisway.
And as a student especially, itcreated this sense of
hopelessness.
And, oh my goodness, am Ireally entering an industry that
feels that way, that feelshopeless about the future, that
feels like there's not anythingwe can do?
And so, like many of mycolleagues in the industry, I'm
(04:31):
a little type A.
I want to fix things, I like tofind solutions.
And so I decided to collect data.
I collected data from over 400participants across the United
States I did not isolate to justone state to find out what they
considered the importance oflegislative and congressional
(04:52):
issues, how involved they were,if they weren't involved, what
were the barriers to beinginvolved, and then looking at
the solutions to those barriers.
So again, I didn't just want tolook at are you involved or are
you not?
Do you want to be or do you notwant to be?
But how do I help you?
(05:14):
How do I provide a solution foryou to be able to do that more,
if that's something that youwant to do, that's important to
you?
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HI (05:22):
So you had a sample size of an N
of 400.
How did you go about recruiting400?
Like what was that process like?
Because, especially as itrelates to hearing healthcare,
when you say hearing loss orhearing aids, most people are
like, oh, I don't really knowmuch about that.
And then you sort of put on theadvocacy and you know the
(05:43):
advocacy efforts on top of that.
So who was your N of 400?
Dr. Megan Adams (05:48):
It was audiologists, hearing instrument
specialists, speechpathologists and audiology and
speech pathology students.
And I specifically includedstudents in that pool because
they are our futureprofessionals and one of the
major barriers that I found wasthat the universities are not
(06:14):
all laying the foundation forthe students, when they become
professionals, to be informedand be ready to enter the
industry to advocate effectively.
And so it was a wide array ofpeople across the United States.
I wanted to include bothaudiology and speech pathology
because in many states thoselicensure boards are connected.
(06:36):
Much of the legislation ismutually effective with each
other, so what affects oneindustry will often affect the
other.
So it's a pretty wide range.
But again, I wanted to have alarge sample size because I
wanted to look.
I didn't just want to look atthe Midwest or just the East
Coast, I wanted to includeeveryone.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (06:58):
And thank you so much for doing
that, because if you just keptit closed off to one part of the
country, it's like, well,hearing loss and hearing
healthcare, as we say in thebeginning, is a global epidemic.
But of course we just wanted tokeep it national in terms of
your research, because it makessense from an advocacy
(07:18):
standpoint of the policyspecific to our country.
Let's talk about barriers toour country.
Let's talk about barriers.
So we have this preconceivednotion of there's so much.
You know, the sky is falling inaudiology, especially when OTC
was initially announced, and Ihave to commend you, dr Adams,
because you saw that there was aproblem or a challenge and you
(07:41):
said I'm going to dig deeper.
So thank you for doing that forour industry, because that,
like hopelessness of first ofall, you were saying that you
chose a major that you're like Idon't know about, and then you
go into audiology and then it'slike, oh my gosh, I feel
hopeless.
But you said, nope, I am goingto keep pushing forward, I'm
(08:02):
going to find out the why behindthis, and you absolutely did
that in terms of the barriersthat were revealed in your
research.
So tell us more about thebarriers to advocacy in our
field.
Dr. Megan Adams (08:15):
Going into the study, I fully theorized that
time was going to be the mainissue or lack of people may not
care.
So I thought that I kind ofunderestimated our industry,
honestly, and so I thought, oh,people will say I don't have
time for that, I can't take aday away from my clinic, or, you
(08:38):
know, fill in the blank.
And I was wrong.
I was very, very wrong aboutthat.
95% of participants said thatthey thought these issues were
incredibly important, and almost90% of them said that they
would like to be involved ormore involved than they are
right now, and so that initialhypothesis was wrong.
(08:58):
And my second hypothesis thatwas completely wrong was that
time was not the barrier, it wasknowledge, and that was huge to
me because it told me thatpeople are willing to make the
time.
They're willing to make ithappen because these issues are
important to them and to theirindustry.
They just don't know how, and Ithought I can't make more time,
(09:18):
but I can certainly inform, andso what's really neat about
solutions like this is thatthere's not just one single
solution, there are lots ofsolutions, and I love that
because it means that thesolutions are versatile and
audiologists and hearing careprofessionals are versatile, and
(09:39):
being able to meet you whereyou are in your industry, so
that you can be involved andhave better outcomes on the
other side, is really what it'sall about.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HI (09:51):
So , megan, with this research, we
know time is throw that out thewindow because hearing care
professionals and even students,they want to be more involved,
they want to see a change, and Ithink it's important.
There's a difference betweenpolitics and policy.
We're talking about policyright here.
(10:12):
Hearing health care isbipartisan.
We know the research that'sbeen connected to untreated
hearing loss and lost USearnings.
And communication, again, isthe exchange of ideas, language,
a code in which ideas areshared, and then speech is that
neuromuscular process.
That's why hearing healthcareprofessionals, slps, we all work
(10:35):
together to help our patientshear life's stories is really
what we say Now, megan, one ofthe reasons why advocacy is so
important to me personally, if Ican just share a brief story,
I'm a former private practiceowner, genetically predisposed
to hearing health care.
(10:55):
It was during COVID when I andour team really started to
become more involved witheducating elected officials in
our community.
Because in Pennsylvania, wherewe were closed down for almost
three and a half four months andset aside the business aspect
of that, my patients reallydidn't have access to me.
(11:16):
So of course we were leveragingand leaning into telehealth and
things of that nature.
I was literally driving topatients' homes and doing
cleaning checks on their frontporch.
We did what we had to do andthen I had a call with Michael
Scholl.
He is the EVP of customerrelations at Starkey and he was
like Blaise, start to educateyour policymakers in
(11:39):
Pennsylvania.
And I said, done.
That turned into us invitingSenator Scavello into our office
.
Megan, we gave him a tour, wedid video otoscopy, we educated
him and we started with himbecause he was at one of our
ribbon cutting events.
So we're like, okay, let'swhat's like some low hanging
fruit of individuals that weknow.
(12:00):
That was so important.
Because what that turned intoMegan was.
Then he invited my father and Ionto his legislative report,
which for months patients werelike we saw you on TV.
I didn't care that.
Patients saw us on TV, I sawthat number one we're making an
impact, we're raising awarenessof hearing healthcare.
(12:20):
Senator Scavello knows abouthearing healthcare, the impact
of untreated hearing loss, andthen it just kind of really
started to gain more traction.
So I wanted to share thatpersonal story.
I know you're going to sharesome stories as well with
integrating your electedofficials, but I will tell you
the time aspect.
We threw that out the windowtoo.
(12:40):
We threw that out the windowtoo, because it's so important
to us but most important for ourpatients.
So you talk about building aculture of advocacy and there's
so many of our colleagues we seein the hearing healthcare
Facebook groups that are goingto the hill and they're making
change and they're being loud.
It's the only time which isimportant to be loud.
(13:02):
Turn down that volume so youdon't get hearing loss.
That's a dad joke right there.
But building a culture ofadvocacy when you talk about the
importance of starting advocacyeducation in the AUD and SLP
programs, you know professorsonly have in.
(13:22):
You know, for SLP it's twoyears, for your master's and
then AD it's four years.
Time is of the essence.
How can we do this?
Why is it so important to startat the collegiate level?
Dr. Megan Adams (13:36):
So informed students are going to create
informed professionals.
And starting at the level whereyou're taking in most of your
knowledge, when you're enteringthe industry as a professional,
is the best place to add this.
And truly I would urgeuniversities if this is not in
(13:57):
your curriculum at all, itshould be, and it doesn't mean
it has to be an entire course.
It doesn't mean it has to be anentire section of your course.
You could spend just a coupleof classes talking about this,
discussing this, the what behindit, what is advocacy, what is
lobbying?
What are the big ways to do it?
What are the smaller, easierways to do it?
(14:19):
What can it look like?
And then the how do I do this?
How do I make this happen?
How do you speak to a policymaker?
How do you do these things?
And then they will know,entering whatever field of
audiology they decide to go into, how to do that more
effectively students becomeinformed professionals, and
(14:44):
those informed professionals canhelp their patients make
educated hearing health caredecisions.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (14:49):
See , we have the connection here,
megan.
So we have hearing careprofessionals tune into our show
weekly and many of them areprivate practice owners.
How can private practice ownersand clinicians, you know, see
themselves as part of theadvocacy solution, even if they
(15:09):
don't?
Now, here's the thing even ifthey don't see themselves as
persuasive or political you andI were kind of talking about
this a couple weeks ago, becausethat's often like we talk about
.
Sometimes the mountain is usGreat book, by the way.
We see ourselves as not beinglike persuasive or political.
It's not me.
Well, how can we get over thatbarrier, that that self talk of
(15:30):
like, oh, I can't make adifference?
Dr. Megan Adams (15:33):
Like you said earlier, it's a from the
political aspect, it's anonpartisan issue and so,
respectfully, we don't care whoyou voted for in the last
election, but we do care if theaudiology legislation in your
state affects your business andaffects the care that your
patients deserve, and I think wecan all agree on that.
(15:55):
So that's really where we'reall on the same team here.
You do not have to have apersuasive personality.
Most of the time when I've beeninvolved directly with a
legislator, I spend very littletime actually talking about
policy.
It's typically talking aboutaudiology.
What do you do in a day?
(16:16):
What is an audiologist?
What does good hearing carelook like?
Why is it important that theyknow what good hearing care
looks like?
It's oftentimes you don't haveto try and persuade on a
decision for a bill.
In fact, I would probably saythe majority of the time you
don't have to do that.
But it comes down to themisconceptions that people have
(16:39):
about advocacy and lobbying, andone of my favorite things I did
on this data was I had anopen-ended portion where people
could put comments in and, asI'm sure you can imagine, they
were all over the place and someof the comments were you know
well, I'm retiring, so whyshould I get involved?
(16:59):
And others were.
Well, when there's largeorganizations like X national
audiology organization, then youknow we're hopeless.
I mean these are real thingsthat people were saying and I
realized, oh my goodness, peopleare just misinformed.
(17:19):
And it's the samemisinformation that we get
frustrated about asprofessionals, that we see on
Facebook and in the media, thatwe think, oh my goodness, I hate
that patients are seeing.
That it's the same.
I feel the same way about theinformation that hearing care
professionals are getting andbelieving and informing opinions
(17:41):
on.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (17:43):
Well , especially the up
andand-coming hearing careprofessionals.
When we talk about legacy andyour advocacy efforts, advocacy
isn't okay.
I'm going to take three daysand I'm going to go to
Washington DC.
That's not only what advocacyis.
Advocacy can also be I'm goingto make a 30 second selfie video
(18:05):
and I'm going to talk to mypatients about the importance of
hearing healthcare and thenmaybe you tag one of your
elected officials.
But I will say that theimportance of advocacy,
education and news as it relatesto even Hearing Matters podcast
(18:26):
one of the reasons, personally,I'm so excited for the podcast.
We've been doing this for sixyears now.
We want to educate hearing careprofessionals and consumers and
there's been some states therewas no malicious intent to do
this, but it's just policymakersweren't educated on hearing
(18:47):
health care.
This is where I'm getting atreplacing a licensure with
registration.
There's been a couple stateswhere that's been in the bill
replacing hearing aid licensurewith registration.
Can you, for our listeners andconsumers, tuned in, can you
share with us why that isimportant to find in a bill and
(19:08):
actually have reversed so itdoesn't even ever get passed,
why licensure is so important?
Dr. Megan Adams (19:25):
accountability.
And unfortunately, I know we'veall heard those horror stories
of the practice in our statehopefully not in all of our
communities that has done XYZ oryou know, is doing things
fraudulently or performingservices that they are not
licensed to perform or you know,fill in the blank, but
unfortunately it's those kind ofbad apples, as we've talked
about, that kind of sour it foreveryone else.
(19:47):
And so this accountability atthe state level is incredibly
important.
I would urge every professionalif you've never looked at your
scope of practice for your state, go look at it.
See if it's vague, See if it'sdetailed, see if it is accurate
and if it's not, try to havethat conversation if you're
(20:07):
comfortable.
And one of the issues that cameup a few years ago in Indiana
was to deregulate the sale ofhearing aids and that would have
significantly impactedeveryone's practice, our
credibility as professionals,but then, most importantly, our
patients' care.
(20:27):
We know because of bestpractice guidelines and data and
research that supportsevidence-based practice, that
would be far from what's bestfor our patients.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (20:38):
Well , and the challenge there again,
the deregulation can often comeat a cost, especially as it
relates to health care.
And again, oftentimes, theauthors of the bill.
There's no malicious intent.
Oftentimes it will be thisumbrella of okay, let's replace
licensure with registration forbarbers, and let's also include
(21:02):
hearing aid dispensers in theretoo, which is like that's
totally different scope.
This is the importance oflobbying, of reading those bills
, of contacting the authors ofthose bills.
But, megan, about 18 to 24months ago and this, I still say
this to this day and I alwaysquote you you had said Blaise,
(21:26):
I'm tired of playing defense, Iwant to play offense.
Tell me more about what youmean there and why that's so
important today in hearinghealthcare.
Dr. Megan Adams (21:38):
Historically, we have always waited for an
issue to come up and then we tryand attack the issue, and
that's exactly what happenedwith this deregulation of
hearing aid sales in IndianaHouse bill is it slipped under
the radar time and time againand we got to the very end and
(21:58):
everyone went, oh shoot, we needto address this.
And so everyone rushed down tothe state house and explained
why this really wasn't inpatient's best interest, and
then it was unanimous at thatpoint, and I'm grateful for the
professionals that went down anddid that.
But is there a way to preventit from even getting to that
point?
And what it comes down to isusing your hearing aids versus
(22:23):
barber, example.
If our policymakers knew whathearing care is, what an
audiologist or hearing careprofessional does, then that
entire situation probably couldhave been avoided, because many
of them would have said my XYZwears hearing aids and their
audiologist is fantastic.
And I know they're not the samething as a barber.
(22:44):
Nothing against barbers, wejust do different things, and
simply being informed on thatcould have completely changed
the game.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (22:54):
And we have hearing healthcare
professionals tuned in right nowwho might be asking well, how
the heck do I raise awareness,even in my own community?
Because hearing health care isabsolutely 120% not 100% 120%
community-based.
So, megan, when I was inpractice, we would have podcast
(23:17):
days specific for our patients,which was great, and we closed
down the office for a day.
It was a great team-buildingexercise as well and I would
interview key opinion leaders inthe industry, but mostly
patients who wore hearingtechnology, and that's a way
that we could advocate and raiseawareness of hearing healthcare
in our community.
(23:38):
But we would also inviteelected officials so we would
block off like an hour.
We would bring them in otoscopy, show them the equipment I
would encourage conducting afull audiological evaluation if
time allows and then, of course,share the technology with them.
It's an educational opportunityhave coffee and light
(24:02):
refreshments, things of thatnature.
So that's what our familypractice did and continues to do
today in terms of educating thecommunity.
But, megan, tell us whatLafayette Hearing Center is
doing today to educate yourpatients, educate your community
, and how are you, as a ListenCarefully ambassador, bringing
(24:22):
the most current legislation toyour clinic and educating?
So three barrel question.
Dr. Megan Adams (24:29):
So I'll start by saying that, again, this is
versatile, advocacy can beversatile, and so for some there
might be a solution that worksreally, really well, and for
some that solution may not workwell for them at all.
And part of what I'm working onand Listen Carefully is working
on is what's the roadmap forpeople to use.
(24:51):
How do we provide resources andmake it easier for people to
fit this into their day-to-daypractice in a way that meets
them where they are and is easyfor them to implement?
For some people, like you said,invite your elected officials
in your state and offer to testtheir hearing, offer to show
them around the clinic.
It can be that simple.
(25:12):
What we have recently done atLafayette Hearing Center is we
had an appreciation event forour patients, and so they were
the focus, of course, but we usethat as an opportunity to
invite the mayor and invitestate representatives and anyone
that was able to make it,because it was a good
opportunity for them, becausethey get to be around their
(25:32):
constituents and the people thatthey're representing day in and
day out, and the patients gotto see those officials and
interact with them, and we wereable to bring community
awareness awareness at the statelevel.
It was really, really fantasticand it's an easy way to get
(25:56):
some eyes on hearing care and,more importantly, get some eyes
on good quality hearing carethat's evidence-based, where
your patients are getting thebest care possible.
Blaise M. Delfino, M (26:07):
Absolutely .
And so much to unpack there, drAdams, because you had a theme.
It was a luau theme, I believecorrect, yes, and Dr Juliet St
Sterkens she presented.
I love this setup of what youdid because this is absolutely
advocacy.
You're incorporating yourpatients, you're incorporating
(26:28):
your community.
Your elected officials, theirconstituents, are there and I'm
sure it was such a breath offresh air of wow.
We're giving back to ourcommunity.
Our patients are here, you'reeducating them on the updated,
most recent technology andyou've created a hearing home
for your patients.
We believe hearing health carein the hands of the hearing care
(26:51):
professional has the bestoutcomes.
Sure, the debate of access andaffordability we've been having
for many years now.
It is my professional beliefthat the A4 mentioned is true
and there's, of course, data toback that up.
But when you went aboutinviting elected officials to
(27:11):
this event, again, we sayhearing healthcare is bipartisan
.
It Doesn't matter whetheryou're a Republican or Democrat.
We all need to work together toaddress this challenge.
How did you go about invitingthese elected officials?
Was it a heavy lift?
What did that look like?
Kind of, bring us through thatprocess, absolutely.
Dr. Megan Adams (27:32):
That is still a work in progress.
The first thing that you needto do is look at the session
schedule for your state, andthat varies a little bit from
state to state, but there areresources online to help you
find out what that schedulelooks like.
And then it's as simple assending an email, making a phone
call and I was pleasantlysurprised at how easy it was to
(27:56):
get ahold of our senators and itsome of them.
They would respond and say youknow, I have a commitment in
this county that day, so Ireally I can't make it, but I'd
love to, and some are able tocome.
But what I'm, what we're tryingto do right now, is to again
create a roadmap and a frameworkto help professionals know
(28:20):
what's the timeline look like,what do I need to do two months
in advance or six months inadvance, and an email template
that I can send, and what kindsof information are going to be
important to include in thisinvitation so that they're more
likely to come.
What's going to be impactful inthis invitation so that they're
more likely to come.
(28:40):
What's going to be impactful?
And I also think it's worthmentioning that I didn't talk
about a single policy or bill oranything during that visit.
We just talked about audiologyand hearing care and the
telecoil loops and or a cast inour community.
It was just all about audiologynerd stuff, so it was not even
(29:01):
about policy.
So it's not complicated.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (29:05):
Well , and I'm sure that the elected
official appreciated that aswell, because, at the end of the
day, we're all human, likebecause they're in office, it
doesn't mean that they have thislike supernatural human power.
No, we are both humans.
We have two eyes, two ears anda mouth.
We're on that same plane and Iam absolutely sure that your
(29:26):
passion for hearing healthcare,for helping your patients, bled
through these conversations, drAdams, because, again, your
advocacy efforts.
Thank you so much for whatyou're doing for the industry
and there's so many others inour industry.
But we are the most sociallyconnected demographic to ever
exist, and I've been saying thisa lot lately, and the reason I
(29:46):
keep saying it is we are themost socially connected
demographic to ever exist.
That means that we transferinformation so fast.
That means that we transferinformation so fast.
Let's leverage the media todayto educate on the importance of
hearing healthcare.
You know it doesn't matter.
I understand there are someorganizations that have these
(30:06):
big budgets and what have you?
You're able to connect tobillions of people through your
phone, through your social mediachannels.
Now, granted, it's challengingto do, sometimes with the
algorithms, but one way youcould do this, and one way I did
this is to get the attention ofan elected official.
Start tagging them in yoursocial media copy, say, hey, you
(30:27):
know, even make a video.
I would say, let's say you wereSenator Megan Adams.
Senator Megan Adams, blaiseDelfino, here with Audiology
Services, I would love to inviteyou to my office to learn more
about hearing healthcare and whyit's important to preserve your
hearing things of that nature.
So I welcome your thoughtsthere with that approach, megan.
Dr. Megan Adams (30:47):
Absolutely.
I mean I think that's right.
There is what I love aboutadvocacy because I think
historically the reason peoplehave struggled so much with the
how is that there isn't a singlehow.
There's lots.
And the more we think outsidethe box, the more versatile it
gets, the more ways there are toadvocate.
(31:09):
I mean it could be as simple asyou have one person on your team
in your practice that monthlylooks at the current audiology
legislation in your state andwhen you have your monthly
meeting as a team in yourpractice, that monthly looks at
the current audiologylegislation in your state and
when you have your monthlymeeting as a team, they take two
minutes to update your team.
Nope, there's nothing going onthis month.
Or we have house bill X andit's looking at scope of
(31:29):
practice.
It could be that simple to keepyour team informed.
I would encourage you if youare in a state and you don't
know if there's activelegislation about scope of
practice right now, go take alook because there are almost
130 active pieces of legislationin the United States right now
that could affect audiology.
(31:49):
So it's a big deal and it'swidespread and the again the
advocacy can be very small.
You can go to DC and I'dencourage you to do that.
If that's something that youwant to do, that's important to
you.
But it can be as simple as inyour office a two minute piece
of your team meeting or invitingthe mayor to your office for a
(32:13):
cup of coffee.
Like you said, it can be very,very simple.
Community outreach eventswhatever is going to tell your
community.
Engage your community and yourlocal officials, your elected
officials, to be involved anddon't always treat them like
elected officials.
Like you said, they're humanstoo.
(32:33):
They are also your patients andthe family members of your
patients, and they are alsooften in the demographic that
has hearing loss.
So invite them to any patientevents, have a cup of coffee
with them, make it fun and don'ttalk about policy necessarily.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (32:51):
Yeah , it doesn't have to be dry.
Dr. Megan Adams (32:53):
It doesn't have to be boring.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (32:56):
And Megan, what I love is you're
talking about.
So let me ask you let me justslow the roll here Are you that
team member at Lafayette HearingCenter who raises awareness and
lets the team know whatlegislation is impacting your
state?
Yes, or your scope, I would sayI am.
Dr. Megan Adams (33:15):
But I also thought about it from another
perspective and thought if Iwasn't that person, what would?
What would the solution be?
And I thought that is a reallysimple monthly job to give to
one person in your office.
It could be another audiologist, it could be an assistant, it
could be a back office worker,it could be anyone that is able
(33:38):
to just look at current events.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS (33:42):
I love that idea.
I mean, first and foremost, Ithink every clinic should have a
morning huddle, just so youknow what the heck is going on
for the day, because I rememberwhen I was practicing, the
mornings we didn't have a huddle.
It was like holy smokes what'sgoing on here today.
But another idea for ourhearing care professionals tuned
in is when you do have thesemorning huddles that do include,
(34:03):
you know, a two to three minuteupdate, legislative update.
Snap a photo of your teammeeting and that's a social
media post that you can put onyour clinic Facebook, your
clinic Instagram media poststhat you can put on your clinic
Facebook, your clinic Instagramtag.
Some of your elected officialsleverage the media that you have
at your fingertips.
It's real simple to just take acouple seconds and snap a photo
(34:27):
.
Dr Adams, earlier you hadmentioned the importance of
state organization and prior tohitting record today, I said I
didn't even realize that you andI are recording, and then,
right after, we have Dr LindsayCoble who's coming on the show,
and both of you are in Indiana.
(34:48):
So there's some newdevelopments going on in Indiana
as it relates to this newcoalition.
Tell me more about this.
Why is it such a big step, andhow do you see yourself being
involved?
Dr. Megan Adams (35:04):
So Indiana did not have a state audiology
organization and Dr LindsayCoble and Dr Erica Person came
together and said came togetherand said, let's start one.
And I admire both of themimmensely for doing that.
And it has just taken off likewildfire Again, like the data
(35:29):
supports.
People care about these issues.
They just need the how, theyneed the knowledge, and I
respect both of them so much forcreating an organization, this
audiology coalition, where ourprofessionals can come together
and get that knowledge andnetwork with each other and have
mutual understanding of what dowe want audiology care to look
(35:53):
like in Indiana.
And they've I mean, it's year,it's year one, and I just can't
even believe what they'veaccomplished in that year.
So in joining what?
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (36:01):
are some of the big wins, like what
have you all accomplished?
Dr. Megan Adams (36:04):
Cause I'm excited to know they had a
fantastic first conference withgood attendance and great
speakers and great networking.
And people have just raved andraved and raved about that,
which I have heard nothing butreally good things about what
everyone thought of that firstconference.
And that's year one.
I mean, what a huge win.
(36:26):
They're working on hiring alobbyist.
As we all know, that's notsomething that happens overnight
, but there's power in numbers,which goes back to why it's so
incredibly important to jointhat state organization so that
you can support your state atthat level.
And they're able to hire alobbyist and they're able to
address issues like when a housebill, like in Indiana, slides
(36:49):
under the radar and comes in atthe last minute.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (36:52):
Many thanks to Dr Coble and Dr
Person for kickstartingIndiana's new coalition.
I feel like I have so manyfriends now in Indiana like Matt
Hay, james Shrake with ReduxU.
Our professional network isgrowing in Indiana for sure.
That's exciting news about thelobbyist and so that's a state
(37:15):
coalition.
Indiana's never had this before.
So I'm super excited to hearabout the lobbyist and so that's
a state coalition.
Indiana's never had this before.
So I'm super excited to hearabout the developments.
National resources like alisten carefully.
You know why is it importantfor professionals to also become
active members of theseorganizations, to really get
involved with advocacy fromtheir desk.
Dr. Megan Adams (37:38):
So there are resources from Listen Carefully,
aaa, where you can actuallysign up for alerts when there's
major legislation occurringfederally or in your state, and
it can be as simple as the clickof a button to send an email.
And again there's power innumbers.
We know it's going to be moreeffective if you can back it up
(38:00):
with an anecdote, if you can sayhere's why this matters to me,
here's the story that I have tosupport this XYZ.
But even if you're not able todo that, even if the only thing
you have time for that day is tohit send, then organizations
have made it very, very easy tostay informed and to again not
(38:24):
even leave your desk.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - (38:26):
Well , and what's nice too is the
development.
You go to listencarefullyorg,you go to take action and then
you have that voter voiceintegration tool where it has
updated legislation.
But if you are a hearing careprofessional, again
listencarefullyorg, go to thevoter voice tool.
You can contact your stateelected officials.
(38:48):
You can send them a message.
All of their contactinformation is accurate.
It is up to date.
So that was a really cooldevelopment that Listen
Carefully had introduced.
Special thanks to MichaelScholl and Lou Kellyer, and we
know that yourself and fellowListen Carefully ambassadors
have utilized that tool.
(39:08):
Megan, I want to switch gearshere a little bit and talk about
community-based advocacy inyour practice.
So we talked about your localcommunity event patient
appreciation event, let's callit.
Ironically, this morning Ireceived a text message from a
colleague who works at a firedepartment and I know that your
(39:32):
organization is collaboratingwith your local fire department,
so this is absolutely part ofadvocacy.
There's been research done asit relates to firefighters and
hearing loss.
Bring us through this advocacyeffort why it's important and
what really kickstarted it.
Dr. Megan Adams (39:52):
So this is a really mutually beneficial way
for practices to be involved intheir community, build their
business, provide good patientcare.
It just it kind of hitseverything that you want,
oftentimes locally at the statelevel, there's some kind of
(40:12):
funding or grant for protectionlike this.
We know how important it is,and I'm sure many of us have
seen law enforcement officers,firefighters, emergency workers
that have noise related hearingloss, and so it's a really easy
way to to give back to yourcommunity, to support them, to
also support your business andto make an impact.
(40:35):
It's a again like there areways to do this that benefit
your business and give yourpatients the care that they
deserve.
It does not have to be that yougive, give, give.
It is mutually beneficial.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (40:49):
And the importance of protecting
your hearing.
We talk about, okay, untrudedhearing loss being linked to all
of these differentcomorbidities, but let's also
talk about protecting ourhearing up front as it relates
to our public health officialsthings of that nature, thank you
, and Lafayette Hearing Centerfor doing that, because that's
so important.
I have family members who arefirefighters as well, and it's
(41:11):
like we have to protect thosewho protect us and serve our
community.
Dr. Megan Adams (41:17):
The other thing , blaise, that I love about
things like this is that whenwe're in small communities like
Listen Carefully and evenaudiology as a whole is really a
fairly small industry ideaslike this take off, and so I
know there are other practicesthat are implementing these same
kinds of programs in theircommunities, and it's just it's
(41:39):
really great to see that peopleare getting creative with this
and trying different kinds ofoutreach, because it just all
trickles down into your patientoutcomes.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. (41:48):
Talking about patient outcomes, megan.
How does educating yourcommunity affect patient
outcomes and even yourpractice's growth?
Dr. Megan Adams (42:00):
So the decisions that are made that
affect our industry are going tobe made regardless of the
knowledge that backs them up,and I think that is really
really critical because thedecisions made really really
critical, because the decisionsmade whether you're involved in
(42:21):
it or not, whether you haveinformed anyone or not, and so
advocating in your community,locally, at a state level,
however, you can snowballs, andso it gives better patient
access.
It allows your patients to beinformed, which, again going
(42:41):
back to the bad apples, they cantell the difference if they're
informed and they can come tothe practices that they know are
going to take good care of themand follow evidence-based
practices.
It is better for workplacedevelopment.
I mean it trickles down and allof these things, as we know
(43:02):
from goodness, research anddifferent books that come to
mind.
It all goes hand in hand.
Taking care of your community,taking care of your industry,
taking care of your business andyour employees.
Your patients are going to getbetter care and they're going to
get better outcomes.
And when patients come intoyour practice, they can tell
when you genuinely care aboutwhat you do.
(43:25):
And I will sometimes even say ifmy patients talk about you know
I'm frustrated about this andthat and you know why do I have
to get a referral for this orfill in the blank?
It's really easy to say.
You know I have worked reallyhard with a lot of other
audiologists and hearing careprofessionals to try and address
that.
It just doesn't happenovernight.
(43:45):
But I can assure you I amworking hard, and so are a lot
of other people, and that's allthey can ask for.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - H (43:53):
And I love how you and your team
let your patients know we'reworking on this and that shows
innovation is such an umbrellaterm, because it's not just
technology innovation, it'sadvocacy innovation.
Dr Megan Adams, I cannot thankyou enough for your advocacy,
(44:13):
for your passion, for yourexcitement.
Advocacy for your passion, foryour excitement.
I hope to join one of Indiana'scoalitions meetings one day and
kind of see what the culture islike, because I feel like it's
just, it's incredible.
I get a feeling from hundredsof miles away that it's just
(44:33):
such a great group.
Megan, I really want to thankyou for joining us today on the
Hearing Matters podcast.
This has been a conversationthat we've been talking about
for quite some time, but thetime was absolutely now.
Final takeaway if you couldleave one message with our
fellow hearing careprofessionals about advocacy,
(44:56):
what would it be?
Dr. Megan Adams (45:00):
Advocacy in many different forms, whether
it's big or small, is going tolead to better business
practices and better patientoutcomes.
Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS (45:11):
I love that, and better patient
outcomes absolutely not onlyhelp the industry but, most
importantly, help the patient.
You're tuned in to the HearingMatters podcast.
I'm your host, blaise Delfino,and until next time, hear life's
story.
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UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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