New Beginnings

Life is moving right along at Appalachian Audiology and everyday I'm learning something new. There are so many things I love about the field of audiology. One thing is that every day is different. One day we might do hearing aid fittings all day and the next I might be helping test a 2 year old's hearing. This field also allows be the opportunity to do some pretty creative thinking while troubleshooting hearing aids that people bring in to be fixed. It never gets boring and the past few weeks have been no exception.

A few exciting things have been happening at Appalachian Audiology. First of all have added two new faces to the Appalachian Audiology family. Bobbi and Teri are the new patient services coordinators who have replaced Julie who is headed back to school to get her masters in Speech Pathology. Out other big news is that we are opening a new office in Tellico Village, roughly 30-45 minutes from Knoxville. While I have done clinic in many different settings this is my first experience at a private practice and also my first experience with opening a second Audiology office.

There are many things to go into opening a second office that I would have never considered. Decisions need to be made about equipment, office organization, carpeting, ordering furniture, carpeting, setting up phone and internet lines, and so many other things. I was very excited to see the audiometric (sound treated) booth be assembled and I took some pictures.
I was also able to help calibrate the audiometer and hook up all of the cords that attach the audiometer to the headphones and speakers. While I don't think I would choose equipment calibration to be my audiology specialty it was interesting to actually help calibrate the audiometer instead of just reading about it in a textbook or hearing about it in class. Soon the new office will be up and running and we look forward to getting to meet the people of Tellico Village. Good bye until next time.

Getting to know the 4th year

Greetings! I'm so excited to start a blog that will follow me through my exciting year as a 4th year extern at Appalachian Audiology.

To begin I should tell you about myself. My name is Katie Stevenson and I am originally from Gainesville, Fl. I have recently moved back to Knoxville and am thrilled to be near my fiancee and friends. My parents still live in Gainesville. I have a younger sister, who got married in June and a younger brother who will be a junior at UT in the fall.

I spent my 4 years of my undergraduate education at the University of Tennessee here in Knoxville. After I graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in 2007 I traveled down to Hattiesburg, MS to get my doctorate in Audiology from the University of Southern Mississippi. I was fortunate to spend my 3 years at Southern Miss with my wonderful teachers and 7 classmates, all of whom are now spread around the country for their 4th year externships.

This Monday July 12th beings my fourth week at Appalachian Audiology and I have already learned so much. The field of Audiology is growing by the minute and hearing aid technology has deffinately improved since our grandparent's time. Now we have hearing aids that are tiny and are blue tooth compatible for listening to Ipods/MP3 players or talking on the phone. It is so much fun to go to work each day and learn about all the improvements that make hearing aids more comfortable and and improve the quality of life for the wearer. I hope you enjoy reading my blog and keeping up with how my year as an extern goes.