Ingrao: Dr. Johnston, thank you for taking some time to speak with us. I am very happy to be the first person to grab you for an interview since receiving your scholarship award earlier today at the annual convention of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before we talk about where you are in your academic career, tell me a little bit about your background, your hearing loss and what it was that brought you to be an Audiologist.
Johnston: OK. My hearing loss occurred at birth. It is not a hereditary condition. It was a result of circumstances and a treatment with certain medications and a traumatic birth. Miraculously, I have no resulting health problems but hearing loss. The hearing loss was identified when I was three or four years old. My mother and my father noticed that my speech was not quite like my older siblings and sought a hearing evaluation. Shortly after my hearing loss was identified, I received hearing aids and I learned to speak like any other child. Throughout my life I have been very highly motivated but also very strongly encouraged by my family. I've had a lot of external encouragement which helped me develop internal motivation.
Figure 1. Dr. Kristen Johnston, recipient of the 2006 Leo Doerfler Scholarship presented by the Audiology Foundation of America.
Ingrao: Can we talk a little bit about your education? Did you attend any special schools or did you always go through a mainstream program?
Johnston: I was always mainstreamed. I used an auditory trainer (FM system) with my hearing aids beginning in kindergarten. I was placed in a gifted program in elementary school and continued with that. I took honors courses. I began taking college courses at the local college when I was 16 and I skipped my junior year of high school. I wanted to just keep moving.
I entered the University of Florida in 1998 for my bachelors degree which I completed in three and a half years. I took two semesters to do mission work with deaf ministry in Rochester, New York. That experience allowed me to learn American Sign Language and increase my awareness of the deaf community. It also allowed me to better accept people with hearing loss like myself who may not naturally easily fit into either realm, normal hearing or deaf culture. I learned that with some motivation and understanding you can relate to and form relationships that work very well with both. That's a real bridge that I enjoy trying to cultivate.
Ingrao: I happen to be the parent of a deaf child who uses American Sign Language so I'm very familiar with that need to bridge cultures and languages. It's very encouraging to me to see young audiologists who are also open minded in terms of communication styles. You finished your bachelor's degree in accelerated format at UF. Tell me about your AuD program at University of Florida.
Johnston: Well, I feel very fortunate to be a part of that program. And I learned speaking with another student just a moments ago, we realize the prestige and honor that they have the more we go through professional meetings and meeting more people. You realize there's honor and integrity when you're there, but you don't realize what a wonderful reputation the place has because you're just there. I've been very fortunate to be there and continue with the research there, after having a very well rounded clinical experience with world class physicians and surgeons who work with our cochlear implant program as well as cutting edge research with amplification. Its a real motivation to keep moving forward. Because they are an educational institution, they have a real focus on their students and giving a quality education, which involves staying on top of what is going on in this profession.
Ingrao: So as now a doctor of audiology, which is a great preparation for your clinical career, you decide that you're also going to become an academic professional and an academic doctor. What was the real motivation for that and how quickly do you plan to finish this degree?
Johnston: well about half way through my AuD program, my professor, the late Carl Crandall, planted a seed in my mind. During his courses, I asked many questions in class which many of his answers were that would be a wonderful dissertation topic. There is need for more literature in that area. At first I was like OK that's funny OK.
Ingrao: Well I knew Carl personally and he was not being funny. He was being honest. That was one of the things that I miss most about Carl. He would force us all to take an honest look at ourselves, and what we need to do to make ourselves better. So I'm glad that he gave you that answer because that was the right answer.
Johnston: He did. He continued to and I knew he was being very honest and he saw something that I began to see which was reinforced by other faculty members. They encouraged me to pursue research, and through academia, investigate what's going on and really contribute to the body of knowledge in a way that is practical and applicable within the clinic, because my passion is to bring it to the patient.
Ingrao: So what would be your advice if you had any for a young, gifted student who has a hearing loss who's interested in audiology.
Johnston: I honestly did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I did not have high aspirations to be a person with notoriety or fame and I still don't.
Ingrao: Sorry, too late.
Johnston: [laughing] but my desire is to be on the right path and doing the right thing at the right time and I've been very blessed to be able to see just far enough ahead to take steps and that's what I've always done is just done my very best. My parents always said it's not about how well you do it, that you do your very best. I took that to heart and I still try to see that there is always room for improvement in all us in all aspects of our lives. I really take that to heart and try to better myself in all of my life.
If somebody says you have a disability, that you have something to overcome, know that you have the resources within yourself to do it. Do your very best and people will see that. I think we need more awareness of accommodations in schools throughout grade school and college. Especially, I think in colleges we need to help people with hearing impairment be made aware of what accommodations are available and encourage professors and faculty to really take advantage of them. Then to be an advocate for their hearing impaired students because they have a lot of potential. They just have a lot to overcome and when they do it's a beautiful thing.
Ingrao: I couldn't agree more. So what is the dissertation question?
Johnston: It is to be determined.
Ingrao: What is the general direction?
Johnston: The general direction is investigating and trying to qualify and quantify music perception and enjoyment for people with varying hearing loss. Hopefully that information will lead us to develop some rehabilitation for increasing music enjoyment. On the technical side, I hope to work on improving our presentation of the sound stimulus. This may lead to better hearing aid fitting algorithms for specific genres of music or types of hearing loss. It's a long-range goal, but I'm going to make it a more specific investigation of central aspects of music appreciation with hearing loss for a stepping-stone, a place to begin.
Ingrao: Well you may not know this, but I am also a musician, so this is very intriguing to me. First of all I would like to thank you for taking a few minutes out of your busy schedule here at the ADA convention to talk with us. When your research begins to yield some data, I invite you to present an Expert e-Seminar on AudiologyOnline.com. Thanks very much again for speaking with us Dr. Johnston, and congratulations on this prestigious award.
Johnston: Thank you very much.
