The Association of VA Audiologists (AVAA) is an employee organization that was established in 2001 to address the professional needs and concerns of audiologists within the Veterans Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The goal is to achieve and maintain the highest quality of patient care, training, and research by individual audiologists and the programs in which they are housed. It is also the purpose of the AVAA to promote Audiology within the VA and outside the VA at regional, state and national levels and to establish professional and working ties with other related governmental and/or professional groups.

AVAA Responds to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Forces (USPSTF)

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Forces (USPSTF) recently published a draft statement for updated recommendations concerning screening for hearing loss in adults ages fifty years and older. The USPSTF invited public comments on its draft recommendation statement from October 4 to November 1, 2011 and again from November 30 to December 13, 2011. After reading and discussing the draft statement, the AVAA Executive Committee provided a response focused upon the following issues of concern:

1. Screenings should be performed only with the use of calibrated equipment by properly trained personnel. Other screening methods such as the whispered voice test and finger rub test lack sensitivity and specificity for identification of hearing loss, especially hearing losses most commonly associated with the target population.

2. Subjective screening tools such as the HHIE-S may be useful for assessing the functional impact of hearing loss, but should not be used as a method for identification of peripheral hearing loss. Subjective awareness of hearing loss may not occur until a hearing loss is of an advanced nature, and early identification of hearing loss is always in the best interest of the patient.

3. The benefits of hearing loss identification are not limited to successful outcomes with hearing aids. Many patients with hearing loss benefit greatly from educational counseling focused upon explaining and validating their complaints, as well as the sharing of effective compensatory communication strategies. In other cases, hearing loss may be symptomatic of more serious health concerns (e.g. acoustic neuromas, cerebrovascular disorders, glomus jugulare tumors, intracranial tumors, multiple sclerosis, active middle ear pathology such as cholesteatoma, autoimmune disorders, etc.). Additionally, many within the target population may still be working and as a condition of their work, may be routinely exposed to hazardous noise. Early identification of noise-induced hearing loss through audiometric screening affords an opportunity for intervention that may result in improved hearing conservation measures and, in turn, improved long term outcomes for those exposed to occupational noise.