HESP Alumna Offers Advice on Safe Listening

Lindsay Creed reflects on her time at UMD, and shares what she thinks everyone should know about protecting their hearing

Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (HESP) alum Lindsay Creed ‘10 fell in love with audiology while on a different path, at a different university—studying botany, microbiology, and zoology at the Miami University of Ohio.

Creed landed on that major because that was the academic program recommended to students who intended, as Creed had at that time, to go on to medical school.

“I always wanted to do something in the medical field, and be a healthcare professional, but I wasn’t sure what,” she said.

That question was answered when she took an “Introduction to Audiology” class to fulfill a requirement for her pre-med major.

“I was like ‘woah, this is a really neat opportunity to have a profound impact on someone’s quality of life, in a really niche area,’” Creed recalled.  

When Creed ran into some health issues during her second year of school, the Columbia, Md. native transferred to the University of Maryland and officially began pursuing her bachelor’s degree in hearing and speech sciences. The move was made a lot easier, she said, because of the Delta Delta Delta sorority; since she had joined the Miami University of Ohio’s chapter during her time there, UMD’s chapter welcomed her with open arms when she transferred.

“As soon as I got accepted, I moved right into the Tri Delt house on campus. It was an immediately smaller group within the whole College Park scene, which helped me get acclimated for my last two and a half years,” she said.

It didn’t take long for Creed to get settled into HESP either. Creed said she “hit the ground running,” diving into her classes, gaining leadership experience and confidence as a teaching assistant for Professor Emerita Barbara Sonies’ anatomy and physiology class, getting hands-on experience in the Hearing and Speech Clinic, and quickly making lasting connections.

Creed realized the benefits of her time at HESP upon pursuing her doctorate in audiology at Towson University immediately after graduating from UMD.

“One thing I noticed about my incoming class was that there were students from various undergraduate programs who had never touched an audiometer, the machine we use to test hearing, and some were very surprised at what audiology was even after they had been accepted into the program,” she said. “I felt fortunate in that moment for the preparation I had coming from Maryland in terms of the exposure to the field, and the hands-on equipment experience.”

After successfully earning her Au.D. in 2014, Creed went on to work with both children and adults at Chesapeake Ear, Nose & Throat for eight years, before she began looking for an opportunity to have an even bigger impact on the field. She found that in her current  position, Associate Director of Audiology Practices at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

In this role, Creed connects with people all across the field—from career professionals to undergraduates at universities that include UMD.

“I talk to audiologists that are in the clinic all day long, including those that I used to work with, and so I feel like I’m getting challenged in terms of like the clinical aspect, but then I also am able to do things like engage with students from various programs to try to increase the pipeline in terms of new audiologists,” she said. “It’s sort of come full circle to Maryland, because I interact constantly with the clinical faculty at Maryland to teach audiology students about why it’s important to get involved with your state and national associations early on, and how to advocate for the field as graduate students.”

This past summer, Creed interacted with other young adults by doing hearing screenings at the annual Senate Wellness Fair in Washington, D.C. Creed said a majority of the 18-35 year olds she met with expressed concern over their hearing and interest in ways to prevent future hearing loss, an experience that is consistent with findings from a recent poll of video gamers by ASHA, the World Health Organization (WHO)/Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the WHO Collaborating Center for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems at the University of Lucerne.

The poll found that over one-third of the surveyed 18-35 year old video gamers report hearing difficulties, and that one-quarter of that group think their video gaming habits have contributed to those hearing issues. Two-thirds of respondents say they are likely to change their habits after being informed about the potential for hearing loss, however, and the majority of video gamers say they are likely to use a variety of new features that could better protect their hearing.

“This generation  really wants to know about their risks, and they want to change their behaviors,” she said.  “I saw that in the real world too.”

Creed says there are two things that everyone should keep in mind when it comes to protecting their hearing: be aware of volume level, and for how long sounds are playing at that level. The longer the sound and the longer the duration, the greater the risk.

“Try to keep volume levels to about half or below what the maximum range is on the technology you’re listening on, and take frequent breaks every hour or so,” she said. “The little hair cells in your ear can get fatigued like every other part of your body, and the longer that they are exposed to a sound, the greater likelihood that damage is going to occur on a cellular level.”

She also encourages people to get their hearing screened—ideally before there is an issue, so that a baseline ability can be established.

“Because hearing aids aren’t covered by a lot of insurances, people often conflate that with a hearing test, but a hearing test is almost always covered,” Creed said.

This article was written by Sofia Appolonio, JOUR ’26, and Rachael Grahame. Photos were provided by Lindsay Creed.

Published on Tue, Sep 24, 2024 - 10:20AM