by Cristina Rojas
November 7th 2022
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The PacificEar Clinic at PSU provides a full range of hearing care services for all ages from toddlers to older adults (Jeremy Chun Sajqui).
Audiology graduate students from Pacific develop their clinical skills at the clinic (Jeremy Chun Sajqui).
Curtis Hartling, associate clinical professor and a clinical audiologist, supervises a student (Jeremy Chun Sajqui).
The clinic offers hearing evaluations for children and adults (Jeremy Chun Sajqui).
The clinic offers hearing evaluations for children and adults (Jeremy Chun Sajqui).
The clinic offers hearing aid evaluations, fitting, and follow-up services (Jeremy Chun Sajqui)
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Portland State is all ears for a new audiology clinic on campus that also doubles as hands-on clinical training for students.
The PacificEar Clinic at PSU is a partnership between PSU's Speech and Hearing Sciences department and Pacific University's School of Audiology. The opening of the clinic this summer builds on a collaboration begun in 2018 when Curtis Hartling was hired into a joint position to teach courses at PSU in the areas of hearing science, clinical audiology and aural rehabilitation as well as practice and educate as a clinical audiologist for Pacific's teaching clinic in Hillsboro.
The PSU clinic, housed in University Center Building 420, is the first of what Pacific hopes will be multiple satellite audiology clinics across the state that can serve the public and train students.
"We're a university training clinic so everything we do is best practice," Hartling said. "Our patients are going to get the best care."
In addition to training audiology graduate students from Pacific, Hartling says he's excited to offer PSU undergrads an on-campus opportunity to shadow an audiologist. Undergrads take three audiology courses as part of their core curriculum, but up until now, students interested in going the audiology route had to volunteer or observe in community clinics.
"I want to give them hands-on experience on the equipment and working with patients," Hartling said. "That's not something that most students interested in audiology get before going to grad school."
The clinic provides a full range of hearing care services for all ages from toddlers to older adults, but Hartling is also carving out a niche with hearing conservation for musicians. He has been specially trained and certified by Chicago-based Sensaphonics to make earmold impressions for musicians and concert lovers. He said the custom-fitted earplugs protect hearing by reducing volume while also preserving the fidelity of the music.
"Folks who go to live music or perform music tend to prefer them, so it's something I'm focusing on in this clinic," he said.
The clinic is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PSU students, faculty and staff get 20% off goods and services at the clinic.