News Story #2146

AAA Provides A Wide Range of Events and Education
Reston, Va — The American Academy of Audiology (AAA) Convention will be held at the Washington Convention Center in Washington DC from Thursday, March 31, 2005 to Saturday, April 2, 2005, with preconvention workshops being held on Wednesday, March 30.

AAA is the largest event for audiologists in the world, and close to 180 companies and organizations will be represented in the convention exhibit hall. Attendees will view latest technologies, see ground-breaking devices, and learn about state-of-the-art procedures for diagnosing and treating hearing loss and balance disorders. A full slate of instructional courses, featured sessions, poster and podium sessions, pre-convention workshops, and special events are planned.

Convention Highlights
Wednesday, March 30. Seven preconvention workshops are offered:

• Cochlear Implants: The Present and a Peek into the Future;
• Screening and Diagnosis: An Evidence Based Approach;
• Amplification in Infants & Young Children: Start to Finish;
• Mentoring 101: Clinical Supervision in Audiology;
• We’re Near the Capitol, So Let’s Increase YOUR Capital;
• Management of Adult & Pediatric Balance Disorders;
• Auditory Aging.

The day concludes with the Opening Night Reception and a tour of the nation’s capitol by moonlight.

Thursday, March 31. Following the Academy’s General Session that starts at 10 a.m., the Convention Exhibit Hall opens and remains open until 6 p.m. There are six featured sessions on Thursday:

• The “Trainable” Hearing Aid: Concept, Design, and Candidacy;
• Impact of Training on Brain Remapping, Hearing Loss, and APD;
• Combined Electric and Acoustic Hearing for High-Frequency Hearing Loss;
• Genetics and Hearing Loss, Part 1;
• Audiology Priorities in the 109th Congress;
• Grand Rounds in Balance Function Testing.

Thursday ends with the Academy Awards Reception and the International Reception.

Friday, April 1. In addition to an early-morning Academy Business Meeting, Friday offers the Exhibit Hall (is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), afternoon instructional and exhibitor courses, and 11 featured sessions:

• Hearing Aids: 2004 in Review;
• Hearing & Cognitive Change in the Aging Adult;
• What’s the Evidence? Otitis Media Effects and Treatment in Children;
• When Audiology was Fun (a historical retrospective on the profession);
• Genetics and Hearing Loss, Part 2
• Medicare 101: The “How To’s” of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS);
• Dead Regions in the Cochlea: Diagnosis and Clinical Applications;
• Adult Grand Rounds in Audiology: The Mayo Clinic Experience;
• Marion Downs Lecture in Pediatric Audiology: A New Clinical Technique for Assessing Central Auditory Development in Infants and Children
• Effects of Lead and Mercury Exposure on the Auditory System
• What’s Happening in the Agencies: The Alphabet Soup of the Federal Government

Friday’s events end with a poster presentation and reception from 4-5:30 p.m. The evening is free.

Saturday, April 2. Saturday offers a Consumer Workshop for consumers and media, and the Exhibit Hall is open for the last time from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Round-table sessions and instructional seminars will be held, as well as nine featured sessions:

• Pediatric Grand Rounds: The Boys Town Experience;
• Practice Management: Personal and Practice Valuation;
• A Revolution in England: Audiology Discovers a New Capacity;
• How’s Your EQ (Ethical Quotient): An Interactive Session;
• “Real World” Hearing Aid Fitting: Managing Patient Expectations;
• Auditory Temporal Gap Detection (or Why Silence is Golden);
• Developing Otoprotective Agents;
• Issues in Audiology Education: Consensus or Confusion?
• New Approaches to Treating Tinnitus;

The convention concludes with the annual Trivia Bowl and open houses. For more more information, visit www.audiology.org/convention.