Audiologist
Profile: JoLynn Blair
By JOHN BRUNING
For What2Be
For her 11th birthday, JoLynn Blair’s parents gave her a microscope. ?I think I examined everything with that microscope,? recalled Blair, who now works as a pediatric audiologist in the Rehabilitative Services Department of Children’s Medical Center in Dayton.
On a recent day her duties included fitting tiny, digital hearing aids into the ears of a two-year-old boy. The small, state-of-the-art, digital devices were colored red, white and blue in honor of the boy’s July 4th birthday. Pediatric patients are not just small adults, pediatric specialists are quick to point out, and little personal touches like the coloring of the hearing devices help relax and comfort young patients.
By encouraging their daughter’s natural scientific curiosity, Blair’s parents nourished her early education that eventually culminated in her present career of service to children with hearing problems.
?I always liked science,? Blair said. However, after graduation from high school in McConnelsville, Ohio, she started out as a business major at Ohio University. But her early course requirements included science subjects and visits to a clinic where people were treated for speech and hearing problems. ?I saw the wide range of people who needed help in that area,? she said.
Blair changed her educational direction with the intention of becoming a speech pathologist or an audiologist. As a part of her course work, she practiced one-on-one with a little boy in a speech therapy clinic, helping him with articulation. The slow progress involved convinced her that she would prefer the faster pace and greater number of patients involved in audiology.
Blair earned a bachelor’s degree at OU, with a major in hearing and speech science, and added a Master of Arts in audiology, also at OU. She then had to complete a one-year clinical fellowship, which she did at a private hearing aid center in Lancaster.
Then she was able to apply to the American Speech and Hearing Association for approval to practice, in the form of a Certificate of Clinical Competence. That accounts for the professional letters after her name ? M.A., CCC-A. It takes aptitude, interest, specialized education and proper credentialing to work as an audiologist.
?As an audiologist I see a new patient every time,? Blair said. ?Each one is like a puzzle. Through testing I can detect the cause of the hearing problem and determine how to help. I love my job; I really do. Every day is a challenge. There’s a wide variety of kids to work with. It’s so fulfilling to help them hear better.
You get to see the look on their faces when you turn the hearing aid on. It’s a great job. I feel very lucky. After a diagnosis and fitting a hearing air, you get to follow up with testing and the care of the hearing aid.?
Testing of hearing includes infants and babies at Children’s. If a hearing problem can be detected and treated in a child’s first six months, the child will be able to perform equal to peers, Blair said. Early detection and treatment can make a lifetime of difference.
Blair is pleased with the technological improvements she has seen in hearing aids. ?All the hearing aids we fit are digital; they’re not analogue any more,? she said. ?We can program a computer chip to each patient’s hearing loss. They provide a clear signal for the child. It helps with speech perception. The new aids fit differently and are smaller. And with the new testing equipment, we can analyze how the hair cells and nerve fibers respond to sound.?
Blair met her husband, Andrew, in her freshman at OU, where he also was a student. The couple resides in the Forest Ridge area of Riverside. They have three sons: Sam, 9; Anthony, 6; and Daniel, 3.
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SCHOOLS WITH ACCREDITED PROGRAMS Northeast Ohio Au.D. Consortium Ohio University University of Cincinnati MASTER’S DEGREE Kent State University Miami University Ohio State University University of Akron University of Cincinnati |
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