The PCO School of Audiology continues its steady growth this fall with the development of a new Audiology Clinic on the first floor of the North Building at the Elkins Park Campus. Construction will be completed in late October, with the clinic opening in early November. The new clinic is the latest expansion for the School, which welcomed its first residential class this year.opened its first clinical facility, the Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI) at the Elkins Park Campus of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry on Tuesday, July 6, 2004.Said Audiology School Dean Dr. George Osborne, "The development of the PCO Hearing, Balance, and Vision Clinic signals a coming together of doctors of audiology and optometry to provide a comprehensive cost effective, efficient model for the delivery of hearing, balance and vision services. We trust this clinic will serve as a model to practitioners across the country and world.", "We are very excited to open this state-of-the-art hearing and balance diagnostic and treatment center offering quality hearing care to children and adults within our community and to assure the highest level of training to our Doctor of Audiology students."
The new clinic, which will initially be run by faculty members Drs. George Lindley and Terri Ives, will be outfitted with the most modern and sophisticated equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of hearing and balance problems. Several levels of quality digital hearing instruments will be provided to accommodate the amplification needs of all patients. New computerized methods of evaluating the performance of hearing aids while being worn will be employed. In addition, the clinic will provide the latest in assistive listening device technology and audiologic rehabilitation techniques.
"We will be an all-inclusive clinic, but we will be also hope to emphasize pediatric care, especially identification of hearing loss in newborns and other difficult to test patients,adding two areas of tremendous value to the community," said Dr. Ives. "First, wWe will be one of the few places clinics that offer a complete hearing evaluation for infants and young children and will be an excellent optionalternative for parents looking for quality care, without needing to drive into Center City Philadelphia to the Children's Hospital." Secondly, we will be one of Eastern Pennsylvania's few complete diagnostic and rehabilitation balance centers—. This is a much needed area of clinical service thatand embodies the combined skills of optometry and audiology."
Dr. Lindley, an assistant professor who has been with the School of Audiology since January 2002, specializes in hearing testing and the selection and fitting of hearing aids.
Dr. Ives joined the faculty in July 2003 ty this summer from her position as manager of clinical research at Sound ID in Palo Alto, Calif. Her areas of expertise are electro-physiology (testing those who can not respond behaviorally and evaluation of neurologic disorders, tumors and disease processes of the auditory system) and vestibular disorders (evaluation and rehabilitation of those with dizziness and balance problems).
Dr. Lindley, an assistant professor who has been with the School of Audiology since January 2002, specializes in hearing testing and the selection and fitting of advanced hearing aids and has been published several articles in professional journals in this area. He has held previous positions in hospital and university settings and teaches the hearing aid coursework in the School's distance education program for practicing audiologists. Dr. Lindley has helped the School establish the most up-to-date diagnostic and evaluation technology for the evaluation and treatment of patients with hearing problems.
PEI will be open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. To reach the clinic, please call: 215-886-8660 (Voice), or 215-886-8147 (TYY). The Pennsylvania Ear Institute is located on the first floor of the North Building on the PCO Elkins Park campus. The address is Suite 110, 8380 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027.
[Photo caption: Dr. Terri Ives instructs audiology student, Elizabeth Soof, in evaluating a patient at the new Pennsylvania Ear Institute.]
