WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2026

8:00 AM - 12:00 PM: Ear & Hearing Editorial Board Meeting  CAMELBACK VISTA BOARDROOM

1:00 PM - 5:00 PM: AAS Executive Board Meeting  CAMELBACK VISTA BOARDROOM

1:00 PM - 5:30 PM: Registration  CONVENTION DESK

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2026

7:45 AM - 5:00 PM: Registration  CONVENTION DESK

8:00 AM - 8:10 AM: Opening Comments  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC

Rachael Frush Holt, PhD, AAS President
Aaron C. Moberly, MD, President-Elect and Program Chair

8:10 AM - 9:10 AM: Translational Research I  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC   Moderator: TBD

Using Acoustic Modeling to Understand Middle-Ear Pathologies and Improve Diagnosis and Treatment
Susan E. Voss, Ph.D.
Achilles Professor of Engineering, Smith College, Northampton, MA

9:20 AM - 11:40 AM: Concurrent Podium Presentations 

PODIUM SESSION I: OTOTOXICITY/NOISE/INFECTION   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC  

9:20 AM – 9:40 AM: Provider Perspectives on Ototoxicity Management Practices in Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacterium Centers
Carmen C. Brewer, PhD, Consultant Research Audiologist, Hyattsville, MD

9:40 AM – 10:00 AM: Impact of Sepsis and Gentamicin Exposure on Auditory Function in Preterms
Peter S. Steyger, PhD, Bellucci Translational Hearing Center; Creighton University, Omaha, NE

10:00 AM – 10:20 AM: ECHO: A Data Resource for Cancer, Hearing, and Outcomes Research
Katharine A. Fernandez, AuD, PhD, NIDCD/NIH, Bethesda, MD

10:20 AM – 10:40 AM: BREAK

10:40 AM – 11:00 AM: Disentangling Noise Exposure, TTS Symptoms, Hearing Thresholds and Hearing Difficulties
Douglas S. Brungart, PhD, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD

11:00 AM – 11:20 AM: Risk Factors for Cochlear Synaptopathy: Aging, Noise Exposure and Ototoxicity
Nele De Poortere, AuD, PhD, Ghent University, Dept. of Information Technology, Zwijnaarde, Belgium

11:20 AM – 11:40 AM: Exploration of HBEGF in Otitis Media with Gene Analysis
Madeline E. Gibson, AuD, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA

PODIUM SESSION II: COCHLEAR IMPLANTS   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF  

9:20 AM – 9:40 AM: The Apical Mechanics of the Implanted Guinea Pig Cochlea
George W. Burwood, PhD, Oregon Hearing Research Center, Dept. of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR

9:40 AM – 10:00 AM: Bilateral Speech Interference with Single-Sided Deafness Cochlear Implants
Joshua G. W. Bernstein, PhD, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD

10:00 AM – 10:20 AM: Age-Related Adaptive Musical Sound Quality Responses to Electrode Deactivation
Brooke L. Barry, BS, University of California, San Francisco, CA

10:20 AM – 10:40 AM: BREAK

10:40 AM – 11:00 AM: How Prosodic Pitch is Perceived: Insights from Vocal Mimicry
David M. Landsberger, PhD, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY

11:00 AM – 11:20 AM: Development and Validation of Patient-Specific Predictive Models for CIQOL Outcomes
Theodore R. McRackan, MD, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

11:20 AM – 11:40 AM: DNN Hearing Aids Improve Speech but Don't Disqualify CI Candidacy
René Gifford, PhD, Hearts for Hearing, Oklahoma City, OK

PODIUM SESSION III: COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES   SOLSTICE HALL 

9:20 AM – 9:40 AM: Improving Communication Sciences and Disorders Diversity through Undergraduate Research Training
Matthew J. Goupell, PhD, University of Maryland-College Park, College Park, MD

9:40 AM – 10:00 AM: Characterizing Cochlear Health in Hypertension
Rachael R. Baiduc, PhD, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO

10:00 AM – 10:20 AM: Hearing Loss and Emotional Distress in U.S. Older Adults
Jessica S. West, PhD, Duke University, Durham, NC

10:20 AM – 10:40 AM: BREAK

10:40 AM – 11:00 AM: Effects of Hearing Intervention on Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration in ACHIEVE
James Russell Pike, New York University, New York, NY

11:00 AM – 11:20 AM: Challenges to Perceiving the End of a Conversational Turn
Abbey L. Thomas, PhD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

11:20 AM – 11:40 AM: Documenting the Impact of Chronic Tinnitus with Pupillometry and Microsaccades
Nicholas P. Giuliani, AuD, PhD, James H. Quillen VA Medical Center; East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN

11:45 AM - 12:45 PM: Lunch  CANYON GREEN

11:45 AM - 12:45 PM: Reviewer Training Workshop   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC  

Interested in learning how to be an effective reviewer? This workshop, hosted by members of the Ear and Hearing Editorial Board, will offer active learning opportunities for current and prospective reviewer trainees to write impactful reviews.

12:45 PM - 1:00 PM: Poster Session I Setup - Put Up Posters  HORIZON PAVILION

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Student Travel Award Poster Forum  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF  

Student travel awardees will have the opportunity to do a “sneek peek” of their posters in 5-minute podium presentations. The purpose of this forum is to highlight student research and to interest attendees in attending posters to get more information and meet presenters. Selection is based on merit scores from blinded review and diversity factors (race, ethnicity, gender, region).

The Quick Speech-in-Noise Test: Does Practice Matter?
Gabriella Brown, BA, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

Sociodemographic Factors Related to Hearing Loss Stratified by Rural/Urban Residence
Nasya S. Tan, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Evaluation of Screening Tools to Identify Somatosensory Tinnitus
Melissa Mikkelson, BA, National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland, OR

Neural Correlates of Time-Compressed Discourse Comprehension Across Age Groups
Taylor A. Teague, BS, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Cochlear Implant Perception of Contrastive Focus is Tied to Pitch Access
Harley J. Wheeler, AuD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Effects of Semantic Context on Neural-Activation Patterns in CI Users
Abigail Mollison, BS, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Olivocochlear Function in Normal-Hearing Adults with Versus Without Speech-in-Noise Difficulties
Kirsten Osborn, BS, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

Spatial Hearing Profiles in Normal, Acute Simulated, and Chronic Unilateral Hearing Loss
Sara Momtaz, AuD, PhD, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE

2:00 PM - 4:55 PM: TECHNOLOGY UPDATES (Industry Sponsored Sessions)

2:00 PM - 2:25 PM: First Round / 2:30 PM - 2:55 PM: Repeat of Sessions MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC
3:00 PM - 3:25 PM: Second Round / 3:30 PM - 3:55 PM: Repeat of Sessions MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF  
4:00 PM - 4:25 PM: Third Round / 4:30 PM - 4:55 PM: Repeat of Sessions SOLSTICE HALL

5:00 PM - 6:15 PM: Carhart Memorial Lecture  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC   Moderator: TBD

Sing, Ear of Charming Echo
Christopher Shera, PhD
Department of Otolaryngology and Physics & Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

6:30 PM - 7:30 PM: Opening Reception (not eligible for CEU)  CANYON GREEN

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2026

7:45 AM - 1:30 PM: Registration  CONVENTION DESK

8:00 AM - 8:30 AM: Early Career Research Award Presentation  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC   Moderator: TBD

From Controlled Environments to Clinical Reality: Evaluating How We Hear with Two Ears
Coral Dirks, AuD, PhD, CCC-A
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

8:30 AM - 9:30 AM: Translational Research II - Killion Lecture  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC   Moderator: TBD

Transforming Hearing through Evidence, Policy, and Awareness
Frank Lin, MD, PhD
Professor of Otolaryngology and Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD  

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM: Awards & Recognitions (not eligible for CEU)  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC

Membership Update: Rachael Frush Holt, PhD, AAS President
Life Achievement Award: Robert Burkard, PhD, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Ear and Hearing Update: Ruth Litovsky, PhD, Editor-in-Chief
Ear and Hearing Editor's Award: TBA
Ear and Hearing Readers' Choice Award: TBA

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Poster Session I Presentations  HORIZON PAVILION

Presenters with odd numbered posters should plan to present between 10:30 am - 11:30 am. Presenters with even numbered posters should plan to present between 11:30 am - 12:30 pm. Presenters are also free to be available at any other time the poster is on display.

12:30 PM - 12:45 PM: Poster Session I - Take Down Posters  HORIZON PAVILION

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM: Lunch  CANYON GREEN

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM: NIH Grant Information Session   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC

1:30 PM - 4:30 PM: Concurrent Podium Presentations

Podium Session IV: DIAGNOSTICS AND SPEECH PERCEPTION   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC   

1:30 PM – 1:50 PM: Conducting Evidence-based Community-engaged Research: Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center
Alexandra R. Mai, AuD, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

1:50 PM – 2:10 PM: Characterizing Hearing Across the Lifespan in Individuals with Down Syndrome
Heather Porter, AuD, PhD, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE

2:10 PM – 2:30 PM: Development and Evaluation of the Intelligibility-Based Repeat-Recall Test (i-RRT)
Christopher Slugocki, PhD, WS Audiology, Office of Research in Clinical Amplification (ORCA-USA), Lisle, IL

2:30 PM – 2:50 PM: Extended High-Frequency Audibility, Masked Speech Recognition, and Scene Awareness
Brian B. Monson, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

2:50 PM – 3:10 PM: BREAK

3:10 PM – 3:30 PM: Automatic Speech Recognition for Scoring of Audiologic Tests
Matthew Fitzgerald, PhD, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

3:30 PM – 3:50 PM: NASEM Committee Recommendations on Measuring Outcomes in Adult Hearing Interventions
Sherri L. Smith, AuD, PhD, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC

3:50 PM – 4:10 PM: Primary Care Hearing Program for Underserved Older Adults: Feasibility Trial Results
David R. Friedmann, MD, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY

4:10 PM – 4:30 PM: Disentangling Speech-Noise Separability from Noise Suppression Aggressiveness Using Behavioral Testing
Eric M. Johnson, AuD, PhD, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

Podium Session V: AMPLIFICATION   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF   

1:30 PM – 1:50 PM: Everyday Hearing: A Week in the Life of Young Children with Hearing Loss
Evelien Dirks, PhD, NSDSK | Tilburg University, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1:50 PM – 2:10 PM: Benefits of Early Device Fitting Persist into Late Adolescence
Viji Easwar, PhD, National Acoustic Laboratories, Baulkham Hills, Australia

2:10 PM – 2:30 PM: Survey of Amplification Practices for Adults with Normal Pure-Tone Thresholds
Alyssa Davidson, AuD, PhD, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD

2:30 PM – 2:50 PM: Concurrent fNIRS, EEG, and Perception Reveal DNN Noise Reduction Advantages
Ann Clock Eddins, PhD, Communication Technologies Research Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

2:50 PM – 3:10 PM: BREAK

3:10 PM – 3:30 PM: Relating Hearing Loss, Cocktail Parties, and Social-Emotional Health
Erik Jorgensen, AuD, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

3:30 PM – 3:50 PM: Health-related Quality of Life Benefits of Hearing Aid Use
Carole E. Johnson, AuD, PhD, HERO Lab; University of Oklahoma Health Campus, Oklahoma City, OK

3:50 PM – 4:10 PM: Hearing Health among Older Korean Americans: Findings from K-HEARS Screen
Carrie L. Nieman, MD, Johns Hopkins Cochlear Center for Hearing & Public Health, Baltimore, MD

4:10 PM – 4:30 PM: Can Hearing Intervention Build Cognitive Reserve in Older Adults?
Julia Z. Sarant, AuD, PhD, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Australia

Podium Session VI: PHYSIOLOGY AND OBJECTIVE MEASURES   SOLSTICE HALL  

1:30 PM – 1:50 PM: DPOAE Input-Output Functions in Preterm Neonates
Angela Garinis, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR

1:50 PM – 2:10 PM: Tuning in Tiny Ears: Optimizing Extended-High-Frequency DPOAE Levels in Newborns
Laura Dreisbach, PhD, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

2:10 PM – 2:30 PM: Polygenic Factors Affect Young Adults' Middle Ear Muscle Reflex Thresholds
Valerie A. Ingalls, BA, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

2:30 PM – 2:50 PM: Unphased: The Medial Olivocochlear Reflex Doesn't Care About Binaural Phase
Sriram Boothalingam, PhD, National Acoustic Laboratories and Macquarie University, Australia

2:50 PM – 3:10 PM: BREAK

3:10 PM – 3:30 PM: Hidden Hearing Loss: Cochlear Synaptopathy May Remain Elusive in Humans
Srikanta K. Mishra, PhD, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

3:30 PM – 3:50 PM: Subcortical Encoding of Temporal Envelopes Facilitates Speech Stream Segregation
Anu Nair, PhD, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

3:50 PM – 4:10 PM: Electrophysiological Measures of Binaural Hearing at the Brainstem Level
So Eun Park, AuD, PhD, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN

4:10 PM – 4:30 PM: Low-Frequency Cochlear Compressive Nonlinearity Altered by Extended High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Sajana Aryal, MS, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

2:50 PM - 3:10 PM: Poster Session II Setup - Put Up Posters  HORIZON PAVILION

4:45 PM - 6:00 PM: Concurrent Early Career Podium Presentations

Early Career Podium Session I   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM ABC

4:45 PM – 5:00 PM: Outcomes of a Pilot Screening Program for Age-Related Hearing Loss
Lauren K. Dillard, AuD, PhD, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM: Target-Shift and Target-Motion Release from Masking Using Continuous Speech
Heesung Park, PhD, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

5:15 PM – 5:30 PM: Development of a Hearing Loss-Focused Music Enjoyment Instrument
Alexander Chern, MD, Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

5:30 PM – 5:45 PM: Hearing Aid Benefit in Adults: Interactions Between Temperament and Self-Efficacy
Kristina Bowdrie, AuD, PhD, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

5:45 PM – 6:00 PM    Mapping the Multisystem Burden of Tinnitus: Subtype-Specific Comorbidity Patterns Across the Health Phenome
Mitra Britton, PhD, Montclair State University, Bloomfield, NJ

Early Career Podium Session II   MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF

4:45 PM – 5:00 PM: Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) with Tympanometry and Conditioned Play Audiometry (CPA) Protocols for Preschool Hearing Screening: A Comparative Study
Rhodieleen Anne Roque de la Cruz, MD, Western Visayas Medical Center, Iloilo, Philippines

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM: Perceived Self-Competency in Children Who Are Hard of Hearing
Kathryn Wiseman, AuD, PhD, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE

5:15 PM – 5:30 PM: Deep Learning Extraction of Audiogram Data from Electronic Health Records
Peter R. Dixon, MD, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

5:30 PM – 5:45 PM: Phoneme-level Processing Deficits Reveal Speech Perception Challenges in Middle-age
Jacie McHaney, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

5:45 PM – 6:00 PM: Extended High-Frequency Loss Reveals Subclinical Cochlear Dysfunction Beyond Suprathreshold Processing
Lina Motlagh Zadeh, PhD, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM: “Perspectives on Mentoring” Happy Hour Event (not eligible for CEU)  CAMELBACK VISTA

All trainees - including prospective students, students, postdoctoral fellows, and residents - attending the conference are invited to a “Perspectives on Mentoring” happy hour event. Attendees will gather at round tables to discuss topics related to the mentoring process. Discussions will be facilitated by current postdoctoral fellows affiliated with AAS. A cash bar and light snacks will be available during the event. While registration to participate in the event is required, there is no fee.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2026

7:45 AM - 2:45 PM: Registration  CONVENTION DESK

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM: Translational Research III  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF   Moderator: TBD

Maturation of Speech Recognition in Noisy Environments
Lori Leibold, PhD
Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE

9:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Poster Session II Presentations  HORIZON PAVILION

Presenters with odd numbered posters should plan to present between 9:00 am - 10:00 am. Presenters with even numbered posters should plan to present between 10:00 am - 11:00 am. Presenters are also free to be available at any other time the poster is on display.

11:00 AM - 11:15 AM: Poster Session II - Take Down Posters  HORIZON PAVILION

11:00 PM - 12:00 PM: Lunch  CANYON GREEN

12:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Special Session: Cochlear Implantation and Neurodevelopment  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF   Moderator: TBD

Understanding Memory and Learning Challenges in Children with Hearing and Balance Impairments
Karen A. Gordon, PhD, CCC-A, Reg CASLPO
Cochlear Americas Chair in Auditory Development
Bastable-Potts Health Clinician Scientist in Hearing Impairment
Professor, Dept. of Otolaryngology-HNS, University of Toronto
Archie’s Cochlear Implant Laboratory
Toronto, Canada

Differences Between Children and Adults with Cochlear Implants: A Neurophysiologic Perspective 
Julie Arenberg, PhD
Director of Research and Education for Audiology at Mass Eye and Ear, Associate Professor, Harvard Dept. of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, and the Herb Silverstein Chair of Otology/Neurotology, Boston, MA

Non-auditory Consequences of Developmental Hearing Loss
Andrej Kral, MD, PhD
Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology & Dept. of Experimental Otology, Clinics of Otolaryngology, Hannover Medical School, Germany
& Australian Hearing Hub, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia 

Thinking Fast and Slow: Speed of Information Processing, Executive Functioning, and Language Development in Children with Cochlear Implants
William G. Kronenberger, PhD
Arthur B. Richter Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN

2:30 PM - 2:45 PM: Summary and Adjournment  MERIDIAN GRAND BALLROOM DEF

AAS Conference Registration
Cancellation Policy: If registered and unable to attend the conference, AAS offers a full refund of the registration fee. Email [email protected] for assistance.

AAS Invited, Podium, and Technology Update Session Speakers Bios and Disclosures

AAS Poster Presenter Bios and Disclosures

Financial and In-Kind Support Provided By:

(Hearing) Industry Research Consortium - The session "(Hearing) Industry Research Consortium Sponsored Session" is funded in its entirety by the (Hearing) Industry Research Consortium.