Public News Releases

UHC Hearing "Device" Provision

ALERT: The Illinois Academy of Audiology has determined that the UHC hearing benefit is not in the best interest of Illinois public health.

The ILAA position statement may be found here

Each year an ILAA representative attends the Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) Fair State Finals to provide specialty judges in the area of sound, hearing, and balance – all things Audiology.  We have attended this event for more than 10 years with the primary goal of increasing awareness and encouraging young scientists to pursue the field of Audiology.

This year there was an outstanding response from the volunteer Au.D. students as well as submissions for the science fair.  10 students volunteered to help with judging, which is a record!  And it is a good thing we had that many judges… 29 projects were reviewed by the panel (also a record) in 2½ hours with each team presenting and defending the projects they felt were worthy of a prize.  Monetary prizes were provided by ILAA and additional prizes were provided by industry supporters Etymotic Research, Phonak, and Oticon.  
 
Natalie McKee, Au.D. from Bloomington-Normal Audiology served as the ILAA representative this year.  She was accompanied by Au.D. student judges Robert Risley, David Hirchak, and Katie Eldridge from Rush University; Lauren Moss, Casey Cummings, and Perrine Pham from Northern Illinois University; and Kelcey Cushman, Sara Neumann, Leslie Townsend, and Bayle Anderson from Illinois State University.  The projects with audiology ties included auditory processing, balance/dizziness, auditory memory, hearing, physics of sound, hearing aids, and hearing conservation.  Five were chosen as exemplary projects and awarded prizes.  See the full article for project descriptions.

On Saturday April 2nd, 2011 on a very cold but sunny day at 8 in the morning, 110 individuals of all levels of athleticism ran or walked in the first inaugural Hustle for Hearing 5K. The success of the first inaugural run could not have been possible without the 15 volunteers from Audiology staff to students who provided encouragement, water and food along the way! They raised $4,253.27 which will all be donated to the Hands and Voices Chapter of Dekalb.

The idea of the 5K run/walk benefit was formulated in the Spring of 2010 by the Executive Board of the Student Academy of Audiology at Northern Illinois University. Many of the SAA student members are also student members of the Illinois Academy of Audiology including Lauren Moss the NIU student representative to ILAA executive board.

The students at NIU felt a need to give back to the community and make a difference in the lives of the families within the audiology community in Dekalb, IL. They wanted to select a local, not-for-profit organization which provided help to families as a whole.

Hands and Voices is a parent driven non-profit organization dedicated to supporting families who have children which are deaf and hard of hearing without a bias toward a specific communication mode or methodology. The organization provides families with the necessary resources, networking and information to improve communication access and educational outcomes for their children to reach their fullest potential.

Congratulations NIU SAA chapter and ILAA student members! This will now become an annual fundraising event!

The Current executive board members are:
President- Ashley St. Peter
Vice President of Professional Enhancement- Lauren Moss
Vice President of Social Enhancement- Liz Tusler
Vice President of Finance- Laurin Moddie
Vice President of Communications- Rachel Faivre

As Vice President of Membership, I would like say thank you to such an awesome and inspiring group for their dedication to the families and children of Hands and Voices and to other student organizations.