New Jersey Academy of Audiology

The NJAA is dedicated to promoting the public good by fostering the growth, development, recognition, and status of the profession of Audiology and its members.

NJAA members are professional audiologists who are university trained and licensed to practice audiology within the State of New Jersey. You can find an audiologist in New Jersey by clicking above.

NJ & FDA

Medical Waiver

On December 7, 2016 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a process to facilitate the availability of over the counter hearing aids, similar to how consumers can now buy simple corrective lenses over the counter. As a first step, the FDA has announced that it does not intend to enforce the requirement for American adults to get a medical evaluation or sign a waiver before obtaining most hearing aids. It appears, however, that this decision may be regulated by each state. In NJ, we need to wait until the NJ Hearing Aid Dispensers Examining Committee (HADEC) deliberates and issues an announcement regarding the medical evaluation/waiver issue. Until then, dispensing audiologists should continue to obtain medical evaluations or waivers for their adult hearing aid users.

DOL Rescinds IHS Apprenticeship Program

Congress Passes VA Bill Related to Hearing Aid Specialists

On November 17th, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 3471, the Veterans Mobility Safety Act of 2015, by unanimous consent. This bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on September 12, 2016, and is expected to be signed into law by the President. The legislation includes a provision that would recognize hearing aid specialists for appointment under the VA. The legislation would, however, require that hearing aid specialists provide services within their scope of practice related to the practice of fitting and dispensing of hearing aids, and under the treatment plan of an audiologist.

This legislative action comes on the heels of the Department of Labor (DOL) announcing that they had officially rescinded the highly concerning apprenticeship program for hearing aid dispensers.. The DOL cited the need to seek additional input from audiology stakeholders before creating such a program in the future. This announcement was provided through a correspondence with Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI), who expressed concern to the DOL on the development of the apprenticeship program absent input from audiology organizations.

The passage of this legislation and the DOL decision represent the culmination of efforts by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), American Academy of Audiology (AAA), and the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), to prevent hearing aid dispensers from expanding their scope of practice both within the VA system and on the state level. Today marks a great victory for audiologists as we continue to ensure our patients receive access to high quality audiologic care.

With regard to our combined legislative efforts, the three organizations stopped the advancement of the original House version H.R. 353 and original Senate version S. 564 of the misguided "Fit to Serve" legislation. These bills were proposed and shepherded by the International Hearing Society (IHS) and hearing aid dispensers nationwide.

Together, the organizations worked with members of Congress to modify the bill's language to appropriately restrict job duties of hearing aid dispensers to reflect their limited training and education. As a result, the language contained in the final, passed version of the Veterans Mobility Safety Act includes important patient protections that did not previously exist in the original House or Senate bills.

ASHA, in conjunction with other audiology organizations, engaged in extensive outreach with the DOL to rescind the program and engaged Congressman Walberg, who sits on both the Energy and Commerce and Government Reform and Oversight committees to intervene with DOL to inquire on the process it took to properly vet the IHS apprenticeship program.

Both Congress and the DOL have taken important steps to recognize and preserve the important role of audiologists in the delivery of hearing health care services, duly responsible for the development and oversight of patients' audiologic plans of care, and limit the role of hearing aid dispensers to that of the fitting and dispensing of hearing aids.

ASHA appreciates the grassroots efforts of its members in reaching out to their elected officials on behalf of the profession. As a result of your efforts, the voice of audiology was heard on the Hill and within the Administration!

For additional information, contact Ingrida Lusis, ASHA's director of federal and political advocacy, at ilusis@asha.org

Congratulations to Past President Janet Koehnke!

Article Past NJAA President Janet Koehnke has been elected as ASHA's Vice President for Academic Affairs in Audiology. Dr. Koehnke begins her 3-year term in January 2017. Congratulations Janet! ...more

NJ's Dual Licensure Requirement

Currently, NJ is one of 15 states that require audiologists to hold "dual licensure": a state license in audiology as well as a second license in hearing aid dispensing. Since hearing aid dispensing is within the scope of practice for audiologists the additional hearing aid dispensing license is repetitive. NJAA has been diligently working on single licensure status for audiologists. Our efforts have been recognized by the American Academy of Audiology. Click here to read more about Dual Licensure from the Jan/Feb 2016 issue of Audiology Today.

AAA's Letter to the US Dept of Labor

AAA's letter to the US Dept of Labor concerning the hearing aid specialist apprenticeship program:

The International Hearing Society submitted a Hearing Aid Specialist Apprenticeship Program that would essentially expand the scope of practice of dispensers. In response to this program the American Academy of Audiology submitted a letter of concern to the US Dept of Labor as well as State Labor Agencies.

To learn more about the Academy's concern for this program and to read their letters please click here

"Turn It To The Left"

"Turn It to the Left" is an educational rap song written by Benjamin Jackson, who sang the song at the last AAA conference to a standing ovation. The song is in support of the AAA's campaign to raise public awareness about the dangers of exposure to high sound pressure levels. To read about the campaign and hear the song or see a performance of it, please visit www.turnittotheleft.com

President's Message - July, 2017

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Donna Merchant
NJAA President

Welcome to NJAA’s new website. We are pleased to launch the redesigned and improved functionality of our website. This will allow our members to find the latest NJ audiology related news and have easier access to conference information and other member benefits.

This year our annual conference discussing Noise-induced Hearing Loss will be held on Friday October 13. Our guest speakers are Sharon Kujawa, PhD and Marshall Chasin, AuD. They will provide detailed research and clinical information on hidden hearing loss & musicians with hearing loss. We are very excited to learn from them... more

Cerumen Management in New Jersey

Cerumen Management is now under NJ audiologists' scope of practice. For more information, please

and go to the Professional Issues page in the Members Only area.

Can You Hear Me Now? The Impact of Hearing Loss

Headphones Though it's one of the most common workplace injuries, noise-induced hearing loss also is one of the most overlooked. Employees and employers who don't pay attention to the importance of hearing protection potentially could lose much more than just their hearing.