Birth of an Agency: The Emergence of the Ameriacn Academy of Audiology
The idea of forming an organization of, by and for audiologists first took root in New Orleans at the 1987 convention of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association. A small group of presenters, of which I was part, was asked to speculate on the future of audiology. When I suggested that perhaps it was time for audiologists to form our own professional organization, a roar of approval for the idea started us thinking seriously about the feasibility of such a move. I had long felt that audiology needed more autonomy but was not sure how many audiologists shared this view.
The actual founding of the academy proved to be considerably less difficult than I had expected. My colleague and good friend Brad Stach and I put together a list of 35 individuals we thought might be interested and we invited them to Houston to discuss forming our own professional organization. Almost everyone we invited came, and by the end of the second day, there was a consensus that we ought to at least make the effort.
We set up the first national office at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Stach, who then supervised Baylor’s audiology service at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, was the first secretary-treasurer of the new organization. He was instrumental in bringing the abstract concept of a new organization to concrete reality. He established the organizational structure, implemented the solicitation of new members, corresponded with existing members and generally kept the ship on course.
Gus Mueller, as first chair of the membership committee, was faced with the truly difficult task of applying somewhat vague and abstract qualification requirements to the credentials of membership applicants. His steady hand at this crucial, formative stage of the academy was, I believe, one of the keys to our eventual success.
During that first year we saw the membership climb to more than 1,500 audiologists, a far greater figure than we had imagined possible in so short a time. By June of 1989, membership had reached 2,000.
Encouraged by this rapid growth, we set in motion the creation of the two academy publications, Audiology Today and Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.
Perhaps the highlight of 1989 was the memorable first annual convention held at Kiawah Island, S.C., a site chosen by Verne Larson. President-elect Fred Bess organized the program and supervised virtually every detail of its execution. The theme was “Audiology – A New Beginning.” It was a resounding success!
From that point on, a bright future lay ahead of us and there was no looking back.
This article is an adaptation of the speech that Dr. Jerger presented at the general assembly of the 2006 annual convention of AAA and is reprinted with permission.
James F. Jerger, Ph.D., Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas-Dallas (UTD), completed his doctorate in audiology from Northwestern University. He served for seven years on the audiology program faculty at Northwestern followed by two years at Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. He served as director of research at Houston Speech & Hearing Center and in 1968, joined the faculty of the Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas Medical Center. In addition, he directed the audiology and speech pathology services of The Methodist Hospital in Texas Medical Center. In 1997, Dr. Jerger joined the faculty of UTD where his current research focuses on auditory processing disorders in children and elderly persons. He recently initiated Texas Auditory Processing Disorder Laboratory at UTD. He continues to teach audiology students at UTD Callier Center for Communication Disorders and directs doctoral studies in the applied cognition and neuroscience program of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Dr. Jerger has served as editor-in-chief of Journal of the American Academy of Audiology since its inception in 1989. He is the author or co-author of more than 300 publications in audiology. In 2004, Dr. Jerger was awarded the prestigious Aram Glorig Award of the International Society of Audiology in recognition of his long and productive career in audiology. A founder of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), Dr. Jerger’s leadership has helped to grow the academy from the initial planning meeting in 1987 to a current membership which exceeds 10,000.
Brad A. Stach, Ph.D., is currently director of the Division of Audiology in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery of Henry Ford Medical Group in Detroit, Mich., and serves on the faculty at Wayne State University. He is the author of a number of articles, book chapters and books, including Clinical Audiology: An Introduction and The Comprehensive Dictionary of Audiology, two widely used educational reference books.
A native of Chicago, Dr. Stach earned his doctorate from Baylor College of Medicine and went on to direct clinical audiology programs at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and the California Ear Institute at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Dr. Stach has also served as president and chief executive officer of Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Clinic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the director of audiology at Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis. Dr. Stach is a founding board member and past president of AAA and was recently appointed chair of the American Academy of Audiology Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Dr. Stach is a former member of the Deafness Research Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Photo courtesy of American Academy of Audiology Foundation
