Symposium Preview: ‘Quest for the Best in CAPD and Neuroaudiology’ Returns for Its Third Year

Welcome to This Week in Hearing. Hello, I’m Bob Traynor, your host for this episode, which brings to us one of the CAPD gurus in our profession, Dr. Frank Musiek. Dr. Musiek is here to talk to us about a symposium that’s coming up here very soon called The Quest for the Best in CAPD and Neuroaudiology. This is a symposium that’s going to discuss the clinical journey through CAPD from the past, present, and into the future. Thanks for being with us today, Frank, and we appreciate you discussing this important meeting with us. Well, Bob, I’m so happy to be here and I’m grateful for the invitation to come and talk about this exciting symposium that we’re going to do that is going to, I think, highlight some of the real advances that we have learned, or maybe haven’t learned or have forgotten over the years. So I’m really excited about this and we plan a really good program for people to attend. And understand, this is the third year for this symposium as well. It’s the third year. We’ve had two years of highly successful programs dealing with CAPD and neuroaudiology, and this one, with a great faculty that we have, we’re looking forward to having another good year and imparting some good information. This year it’s a little bit different slant. We have some very interesting topics, and in previous symposiums we’ve been excited because we’ve had a lot of people turn out, and I hope we’ll get a lot this year too. But we are looking at the idea of highlighting particular advances in CAPD that have accumulated over the years, going back to 1954 and Netto Boka’s contribution to central auditory testing. As we’ve looked over the history of CAPD, and our faculty have been involved in it for many, many years, we came to the conclusion that one of the best things we could do is highlight some of the things that people have either forgotten about or perhaps never learned that have been key ingredients to appropriate CAPD and neuroaudiology assessment and management. We’ve broken it into four parts over about four hours. The first part deals with assessment over the years, including test procedures, interpretation, and underlying principles. The second part covers electrophysiology in assessing CAPD and its role in neuroaudiology. We will also talk about management and rehabilitation of CAPD problems, devoting a major segment to that, and we will include case studies as well. This has always been a combination of research and clinical application for those of us in the clinic. That’s true, and we’ve always had that as an underlying theme. Over the years, basic science has blended well with clinical practice, and we’re going to emphasize that. Doing the test is one thing, but the ability to interpret it appropriately requires understanding the physiology and neurology behind it. That’s something we’re going to highlight because it has been somewhat misunderstood over the years. The case studies are a major part of the program. Jen Shinn, co-director from the University of Kentucky, will conduct that segment. I will cover behavioral assessment, Jay Hall will discuss electrophysiology, and Bill Keith will address management and rehabilitation. All of us have extensive experience and bring perspectives that we think will resonate, especially around concepts that may have been forgotten or never learned. The symposium will take place on March 28th at 12 PM Eastern, 11 Central, 10 Mountain, and 9 Pacific. It’s a virtual event. The cost is $45 for professionals and $15 for students. I’d like to encourage students to attend—we’ve had great turnout but fewer students than expected. CAPD is complex, and while students get exposure in AuD programs, it’s not enough to become proficient. These programs are critical for both professionals and students to deepen their understanding. Even clinicians who don’t perform CAPD assessments need to know when and how to refer. Case studies will illustrate referral pathways, especially in patients with normal audiograms but persistent hearing complaints. As Carhart said in 1959, if the audiogram does not match the symptoms, you must look further. Many patients are still dismissed without appropriate follow-up, and that’s something we need to address as a profession. High-frequency audiometry may be one option, but the literature shows that many of these cases involve central auditory deficits. When patients present with normal audiograms but difficulty understanding speech, especially in noise, we need to consider central processing issues. These are the kinds of topics that will be explored in the symposium. For more information, contact [email protected]. My guest today has been Dr. Frank Musiek, editor of Pathways for Hearing at Hearing Health and Technology Matters and co-coordinator of the symposium with the University of Kentucky. Thanks again for being with us, Frank. Thanks so much, Bob. I appreciate it.