By David H. Kirkwood
TUCSON—Two accomplished audiologists, with a combined experience of more than 60 years in private practice, have joined the editorial team at HearingHealthMatters.org.
On October 6, Angela Loavenbruck, EdD, and Loleata “Lolly” Wigall, MS, became co-editors of Hearing Views, which every week offers a fresh and original opinion, perspective, or commentary on some topic related to hearing.
Lolly Wigall
Lolly Wigall
Lolly, whose first post appears this week, has owned and operated Atlantic Audiology, Inc., in the greater Boston area, since 1989.
Along with running a successful practice, Lolly devotes considerable time to educating the public and physicians about hearing health concerns. To that end, she has a TV show, Let’s Talk about Hearing, which airs on 25 local cable channels. She also writes a weekly news column of the same name, which is published in seven local newspapers.
Soon after earning her master’s degree from Bradley University, she became the first audiologist in New Jersey to develop a hospital-based program for dispensing hearing aids.
Active in several professional organizations, Lolly was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts to be secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Hearing Instrument Specialists. She also co-chaired the 1998 Convention of the Massachusetts Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
In her first Hearing View, Lolly recounts the moving story of how her friendship with a girl who had cerebral palsy led her to discover her passion for audiology. Readers will find that this passion for her profession is reflected in everything she writes for this blog.
Angela Loavenbruck
Angela Loavenbruck
Angela is one of a handful of audiologists who really need no introduction, as she has long been an outspoken leader in her profession. She is perhaps most widely known for serving as president of the American Academy of Audiology, from 2003-2004, but Angela has played a prominent role in audiology for more than 40 years.
In 1972, while studying for her doctorate at Columbia University, Angela was a consultant to the highly publicized Ralph Nader/Gray Panther study of the hearing aid industry (“Paying Through the Ear”), while also serving on the first ASHA committee on hearing aid dispensing by audiologists. Those experiences helped convince her that it was crucial for audiologists to become involved in dispensing hearing aids in private practice, a controversial idea at the time. In 1976, she entered private practice, and has never left. After owning Loavenbruck Audiology in New City, NY, for 38 years, she sold it last December to Philip Shannon, AuD, but continues to work at the practice, now named Hudson Valley Audiology.
Her commitment to dispensing audiologists led her to join Jane Madell, PhD, (who is editor of the Hearing and Kids blog) in writing Hearing Aid Dispensing for Audiologists, the first textbook for dispensing audiologists.
In her first Hearing View, to be published next week, Angela will offer some characteristically forthright opinions on what’s wrong with audiology education today. Education is one of her areas of special interest, which is why she was an early advocate for the AuD degree and served as the first chair of the Accreditation Council for Audiology Education.
Other voices welcome
Most weeks, Lolly Wigall or Angela Loavenbruck will be writing a lively and informed viewpoint post on this blog. However, Hearing Views will also continue to be a forum open to contributing writers from all quarters who would like to express an opinion on some hearing issue. We welcome guest contributors, and encourage them to e-mail their work for Hearing Views to [email protected].
In closing, I would like to acknowledge the great work that Kevin Liebe, AuD, did as editor of Hearing Views for the past year. On his watch, readership soared and he recruited a host of outstanding contributors. Now that Kevin is moving on to other ventures, he turns the blog over in fine shape to his successors, who will build on what he has done.
