CHCS - Perspectives Summer/Fall 2017

College of Health Care Sciences 23 AUDrey prepares to perform sound-level measurements. From left: Au.D. students Kili Meckler, Ashley Wright, and Michelle Birriel with AUDrey as they help raise awareness of listening levels from personal sound devices in the Health Professions Division atrium. Caroline Moran, a first-year Au.D. student, is one of the 2017 winners of the Anders Tjellstrom Scholarship from Cochlear for use of a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) device while undertaking university studies. Moran says that when she thinks about her past, she would not have predicted herself receiving this exclusive scholarship. Raised in a small town in West Virginia, Moran had a moderate hearing loss—the result of Treacher-Collins syndrome. Her mother did not identify Moran’s hear- ing loss until age two, when she noticed Moran was not speaking or hearing as well as her siblings. Due to her type of hearing loss and ear size, Moran was fitted with a bone-conduction hearing aid. This type of hearing aid sits behind the ear and is attached via a headband. It uses skull bone vibration to transfer sound to the inner ear. “Growing up, I got a lot of stares and questions about my hearing aid, and I was really shy,” Moran explained. “My friends never had an issue with it, but I did. I was on the soccer and track teams, but wearing the headband kept me reserved.” While she was attending junior high, Moran underwent surgery to receive a permanent BAHA, which was more comfortable and helped improve the quality of her hearing. It was not until college that Moran started to accept her hearing loss. “Now that I have a BAHA, people hardly notice I have hearing aids,” she said. After winning the scholarship, Moran participated in a question-and-answer panel for young teens. “It was really interesting to see all of the recipients from different backgrounds having similar stories and challenges,” she said. “I was very inspired and humbled when others congratulated me and told me my story was encouraging and moving.” ● First Year Au.D. Student Wins Scholarship Award By Kasia Bagniski, B.S., Second-Year Au.D. Student, and Erica Friedland, Au.D., Department Chair and Associate Professor Caroline Moran