Audiology Students Get Face-to-Face With the Community

She’s not from the greater Philadelphia area, so when Katherine Ruoff ‘25AUD and some of her classmates from the Salus University chapter of the Student Academy of Audiology (SAA) had the chance to be face-to-face with community members, she was excited by the opportunity.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, students from the University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA) had participated in complimentary hearing screenings for members of the nearby Cheltenham community, through the Cheltenham Police Department. But because of the pandemic, the department was not able to host the event for a few years.

So, when Cheltenham Police Sgt. Jeff Murphy reached out to Jenny Rajan, AuD ‘09, PASC, CCC-A, the SAA faculty advisor, to invite students to be part of the department’s reinstated community open house in September 2022, the students were happy for the opportunity to be back in the community after the long pandemic layoff.

“I am not from this area so it was really fun to get active with the community and participate in something that helps others. I met a lot of nice people, and learned more about the area which I really liked,” said Ruoff, who along with Jillian O’Rourke ‘25AUD co-chaired the event.

“It was interesting to not have any time to plan for what might be going on with the patients and make it more knowledge-based for how I might handle the ‘appointment,’” said O’Rourke.

Dr. Rajan said the event teaches students how to partner with community organizations, perform hearing screenings and clearly communicate screening results and recommendations.

“They also learn to educate the community about communication strategies, hearing protection, the profession of audiology as well as the services offered through Salus University Health, particularly the Pennsylvania Ear Institute,” said Dr. Rajan.

Ruoff said the event helped her advance her training because she was able to perform hearing screenings in a different environment from which she was accustomed.

“This event also helped me promote healthy hearing to a new audience who may have potentially not had their hearing checked in the past,” said Ruoff. “Due to the event being open to the community, we were also able to screen people of all ages, which was really nice rather than having it being centered for one specific population.”

O’Rourke said she had never participated in a screening event before and this one provided her with the opportunity to get some real-world experience and practice her skills.

“I went into the event unsure of what to expect and left feeling more comfortable. We are just beginning our pediatric classes so it was interesting to actually get to test on children,” she said. “I thought every person that came to be screened was unique in their own way.” 

Ruoff added she was touched by the support the students received from community members.

“During the pandemic, it was hard to perform any kind of screening, so this was something that we have been looking forward to for a little bit of time now,” she said. “Overall it was a fun experience, and I am looking forward to the other screening events in the future.”

The SAA is the national student division of the American Academy of Audiology that serves as a collective voice for students and advances the rights, interests and welfare of students of all backgrounds pursuing careers in audiology though the promotion of diversity and inclusion. SAA introduces students to a lifelong involvement in activities that promote and advance the profession of audiology and provides services, information, education, representation and advocacy for both the profession and consumers of audiology services.

In addition to Ruoff and O’Rourke, other OCA students who participated in the event included Megan Kirkpatrick ‘24AUD; Hui Yuan Lin ‘25AUD; Peyton Provost ‘25 AUD; and Sarah Salem ‘25AUD.