Last month at the Academy of Audiology conference in San Antonio, Amy Bradbury and I took the stage and I boldly proclaimed that our presentation was the first in AAA history to be broadcast via Auracast. If only that were true. Andrew Bellavia and Juliette Sterkens beat us by a few hours in their incredible Auracast presentation earlier in the day . . . and I want to publicly apologize for boastfully taking credit. They were both incredibly gracious and for that I’m thankful.
Hopefully it does not shroud the larger point that both presentations allowed Audiologists in the audience, fitted with the latest and most technologically advanced hearing aids, to access a crystal clear Auracast signal for vastly improved speech intelligibility. I’m also thankful that our messages complemented each other. Juliette spoke about Audiologists taking the lead in their communities to not only train their patients on T-coil capability and Auracast connectivity in their hearing aids; but also how to advocate in their communities for hearing accessible spaces. Juliette has pioneered this advocacy for years and it shows in her home state of Wisconsin, with an impressive list of venues that have installed hearing loops. She handed out a guide for Audiologists to use in their clinic with sensible suggestions from https://lnkd.in/erxayE4Z.
Amy and I presented about Auracast in medium-sized congregate spaces like libraries, community centers, retirement complexes, senior centers, houses-of-worship and conference centers, highlighting how the Simeon Audita III can transform these spaces and improve hearing accessibility just by turning it on (and using it).
Special shout-out to the legendary Linda Thibodeau, who used our Simeon Catchbox microphone to spice up audience participation, tossing it halfway across the room into the waiting arms of another Audiologist. Only a Texan could have made that throw! Truly a great day for Auracast and Audiology, unmarred by my untruthful claim to be the first to broadcast at AAA via Auracast.