Frank E. Musiek, PhD, a renowned expert in electrophysiology and central auditory processing disorders (CAPD) who oversees the Pathways section of the blog Hearing Health & Technology (HHTM), has been selected by the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) to chair the 2016 Academy Research Conference (ARC) to be held in Phoenix on April 12, just prior to the opening of AAA’s annual convention, AudiologyNOW! 2016.
Frank Musiek
The topic of the eighth annual ARC will be “Research Advances in the Evaluation and Management of Central Auditory Processing Disorders,” an area in which, said AAA President-Elect Larry Eng, PhD, Dr. Musiek’s “contribution and expertise are unparalleled.”
Musiek announced that he has named Gail Chermak, PhD; Jennifer Shinn, PhD; Teri Bellis, PhD; Doris Bamiou, PhD; and David Moore, PhD, to the Program Committee for the conference. He added, “We plan to assemble with, the help of Megan Olek at the Academy, a great group of scientists who will present cutting-edge research on CAPD and related issues.”
Musiek, who co-chaired sub-conferences on CAPD at AudiologyNOW! in 2012 and 2014, is a professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences at the University of Arizona. Previously he was professor and director of auditory research at the University of Connecticut, and before that director of audiology at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
During 40 years as a researcher, scholar, teacher, and clinical audiologist, Musiek’s work has led to the discovery of numerous tools that have become widely used for assessment of the auditory brainstem and central auditory pathways. His research has contributed substantially to a fundamental understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and neurophysiology of the human auditory system.
He has published more than 200 articles and book chapters in the areas of auditory evoked potentials, central auditory disorders, neuroaudiology, and auditory neuroanatomy, and has authored or edited nine books, including (with Gail Chermak, co-editor) Handbook of (Central) Auditory Processing Disorder, Volumes I and II, which won the Book of the Year Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
Among the honors that he has received are the 2007 James Jerger Career Award for Research in Audiology from AAA and, in 2010, the ASHA Honors.
Musiek has also presented more than 275 invited lectures and seminars and nearly 350 papers at national and international conferences, research symposia, and other venues around the world. He has developed four clinical audiologic tests, three of them mainstays of the clinical central auditory test battery.
This year’s Academy Research Conference, on Vestibular Assessment and Rehabilitation, will be held March 25 in conjunction with AudiologyNOW! 2015 in San Antonio. The conference chair is Devin McCaslin, PhD, an associate professor at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center in Nashville, where he is associate director of adult audiology and co-director of vestibular sciences.
