Dr. Don Nielsen’s New, Free eBook Looks at Audiology’s Next Era

Audiology for a Changing World is a new, free, 60-page ebook by long-time hearing care researcher Donald Nielsen, PhD, that summarizes and puts into perspective the rapid advancements in computer intelligence, synthetic biology, and precision medicine, and explains their impact on audiology.

In Audiology for a Changing World, Dr. Nielsen presents a vision of the future and outlines a three-part pathway for audiology to participate in this transformative journey into the new era in medicine. The first transformation explains why artificial intelligence can help strengthen and modernize current audiology office practices. The second transformation changes how clinicians can perform audiology by incorporating computer intelligence to share clinic patient care responsibilities. This enhances patient access and affordability, allowing more people to obtain the devices they need. The third transformation changes what audiologists do by incorporating synthetic biology and precision medicine and by integrating broader professional partnerships into audiology. This transformation will improve diagnostics and emphasize prevention and cures over treatment. Permanent cures become possible, and this transformation will have a long-term effect on how devices are configured and used, as explained in the final section of the book.

The book is concise, engaging, and easy to read, aided by boxed explanations and quick summaries of each section.

Nielsen notes that he and Bill Yost co-wrote the book, Fundamentals of Hearing: An Introduction, almost 50 years ago in 1977. In recent years, he has published several online publications about audiology and its relationship to artificial intelligence, genomics and precision medicine, and possible futures for audiology. He notes “the importance of physics, psychoacoustics, anatomy, and physiology [covered in the initial book, Fundamentals] has been eclipsed by computers, computer intelligence, synthetic biology and precision medicine. The pace of change over the past five years easily matches the 30-year technology and science expansion that challenged us 50 years ago.”

There is open access to the PDF book, Audiology for a Changing World. Dr. Nielsen’s work has been supported by the Fuel Medical Group.