Fashion Friday: Audiology Faculty

A dog, hearing aid, drag queen, love sign, and crossfit. Although topics seemingly unrelated, these items make up Rebecca Blaha’s, AuD, interest and personality. These items are incorporated into her attire as pins on her Salus University lanyard, which she wears daily while providing patient care at the Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI). 

“When I first started at PEI in 2012, we had a business casual dress policy, so that could be dresses, slacks, etc.,” she said. “As doctors of audiology, we do have lab coats that are monogrammed and have our credentials on them. We would wear them here and there, but it was not a requirement. So, the best way to show a little bit of personality was through my lanyard.” 

The pins on her lanyard change with the holidays and rotate throughout the year. The significance behind a few of her pins include:

• A love sign pin from LOVE Park, because she works in Philadelphia
• Her dog looks like a Boston Terrier, so she has a sugar skull of her dog
• She used to do CrossFit, so she has a CrossFit pin 
• She also has a love ninja pin in honor of Valentine's Day
• There are certain features of hearing aids, so one is a telecoil, a small copper wire which is built into a hearing aid
• A Bianca Del Rio pin because she is one of Dr. Blaha’s favorite drag queens
• She has a she/her pronoun pin

Faculty at PEI continue to find fun ways to incorporate their personality into their sense of style. Another audiologist, Amanda Ayars, AuD, has found an alternate fashion statement to express her individuality while at work. She has found self-expression through jewelry. 

“What I really like is it is a way to express yourself, to kind of communicate a little bit of who you are without having to say the words constantly,” she said. “[Jewelry] is a way to distinguish yourself between other people. Some of my jewelry and accessories have a lot of meaning to me. I use jewelry to showcase the different sides of myself.”

All of her jewelry is white sapphire including her owl earrings, which she said represent her spirit animal. In addition, she also wears her wedding ring that is from the Zales’ Disney line of jewelry.  

Outside of physical fashion pieces, Dr. Ayars also expresses her individuality through her hair color. The first time she branched out with her hair color was with red, and she added pink streaks as an accent. Originally, she planned on dying streaks of purple and blue into her hair, but her hairstylist advised her to start small with hair color changes. 

If you are interested in sharing your Salus style with the University community, reach out to communications@salus.edu.