Dr. Tom Muller
Tim Gaule
Save the date: The SaddleBrooke Hearing Discussion Group invites you to join us on Thursday, Nov. 7, in the MountainView Ballroom East at 1 p.m. to hear a presentation on promising new wireless assistive listening technologies, including Auracast. This technology can provide the same experience as a hearing loop without the complex infrastructure installation.
Currently, for people with hearing loss, an ideal way to hear well during presentations in classrooms and churches has been through looping. This involved installing a loop of wire around the room, attached to the room’s PA system, that could transmit a magnetic signal to people with telecoil hearing aids. Unfortunately, installation is expensive and utilization is a bit complicated, so there have only been a limited number of venues with loop systems.
On the horizon there are new wireless systems that will be much less expensive. As such, they may become ubiquitous, helping both people with hearing loss and people who hear well. Dr. Muller will discuss how these systems work and how to be prepared for them.
Tom Muller is originally from Colorado where he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1988. He then moved to Tucson and received his master’s degree from the University of Arizona in 1990 and ultimately his Doctorate of Audiology in 2002 from the Arizona School of Health Sciences. Tom has been with the University of Arizona Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences since 1997, initially as a clinical instructor and ultimately as Associate Clinical Professor and Coordinator of Clinical Education for Audiology. In the clinic, he works primarily with adults with hearing impairment, hearing aids, and cochlear implants. He is responsible for coursework regarding hearing aids and hearing conservation. His clinical and research interests include the psychosocial implications of hearing impairment in the elderly and advanced hearing instrument technology.
Dr. Muller is a member and past chair of the Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. He has been a commissioner for and past chair of the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In 2010 he won the University of Arizona’s College of Science Innovation in Teaching for his work developing a model of clinical provision and supervision to foster independence in third-year Au.D. students. In 2011 he won the Larry Mauldin Award for Excellence in Education, a national award given to one audiologist each year.
Dr. Muller’s role as a clinical educator includes working with the students in the clinic as, together, they see patients for hearing evaluations and services related to hearing devices. He also coordinates clinical placements for first, second, and third-year students. As the department’s externship coordinator, he works with third-year students to identify and seek externship placements. He also meets regularly with fourth-year Au.D. students and their clinical educators during their externships and facilitates a monthly externship grand rounds meeting.