International Students Take Home a Wealth of Knowledge from Audiology Workshops 

Liron Kariv, an audiologist and speech-language pathologist (SLP) from Israel, admitted attending the summer workshops at Osborne Audiology, Salus at Drexel University provided her with the additional opportunity to go all fangirl over the prospect of learning from one of the instructors, James Hall III, MA, PhD. 

Dr. Hall, professor in both the residential and distance Doctor of Audiology (AuD) programs, is an internationally renowned audiology expert. He is a founder of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), a Fellow of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds certification from the American Board of Audiology (ABA). In addition, he has presented more than 1,500 abstracts/presentations during his career. 

For Kariv, Dr. Hall is a big deal. 

“I have all of his books on my shelf. It was a very exciting experience. Just hearing the way he manages cases, the way he perceives patients and how he looks at the whole case management, that was riveting to me,” she said. 

In Israel, SLP and audiology are the same profession, but Kariv works as the head of an audiology clinic and also teaches audiology at the university level. She was one of eight students who attended two summer workshops from July 20-26, 2024, at the Salus at Drexel Elkins Park, Pennsylvania campus, one on Diagnosis and Management of Middle Ear and the other on Hearing Loss Identification in Infants and Children and Cochlear Implants.  

“I’m a great believer in having a professional doctorate because in Israel, when you want to proceed with doctorate programs, it’s only in research,” she said. “That’s perfectly good, but I think it’s two different professions, which sometimes are great together. I think we should have one separate professional program for audiology and I’m trying to develop it in Israel.” 

Carlos Diego Rozul, who has a private practice in his hometown in the Philippines and also conducts university research management and certification courses for newborn hearing screenings, wanted to add teaching to his resume.  

“In our university, the faculty is aging out. So, they have plans for me to gain a faculty position and I’m very much willing to,” he said. “As someone who graduated in 2019, I wasn’t as confident to teach. But with this AuD Bridge program, I’m beginning to have more confidence. And, I’m actually learning some things I haven’t yet been taught in our master’s program, or at least many aspects that were less emphasized.” 

The most significant aspect Diego Rozul hopes to take back to the Philippines is the increased knowledge he’s gained in bone-conduction auditory brainstem response, or BC-ABR, a type of auditory-evoked response that records neural responses from Electroencephalography (EEG) with stimulus transmitted through bone conduction. 

“Nobody does this in the Philippines,” he said. “We sort of shy away from it. But at least now, with the help of my instructors and classmates, I sort of have an idea now on how it should be done.” 

Giri Sundar, MPhil, PhD, CCC-A, FAAA, director of the Distance Education programs in Osborne Audiology, before retiring June 30, 2024, stayed on a little longer to help supervise two hands-on summer workshops on campus as well as two remote workshops, one on Tinnitus and the other on Auditory Processing Disorders.  

“These workshops have all been extremely educational with practical guidelines for the participants,” said Dr. Sundar, who added that these will be her final workshops before fully retiring. “The faculty were engaging with case studies and practical clinical tools that the workshop participants could apply to their practice.” 

 Students participated in a collaborative manner and the information and knowledge exchange was enhanced significantly during case studies and discussions. “They were vibrant and energetic workshops, and I believe the participants have gained valuable knowledge and tools to deliver better clinical services to their patients,” said Dr. Sundar. 

 Sherin Koshy, a rehab audiologist in her home country of Australia, wanted the workshops to help improve her skills and to help her broaden her perspective on how she deals with her patients. 

“We did learn a lot, things like how to apply certain reflex mechanisms that we haven’t applied as a routine in our testing,” she said. “We have learned a lot from these lectures and workshops.”