Brianna is an audiologist at the Wollongong clinic, she started with Neurosensory as an intern audiologist in 2021.
Brianna specialises in hearing rehabilitation, including implants and hearing aids and has recently started specialising in tinnitus counselling.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I share two beautiful cats with my husband. On the weekends I love to head over to the beach and spend a lot of time in the water. I also spend a ridiculous amount of money on books and yarn for crocheting.
What is your education/training background?
I studied at Macquarie University in Sydney and have a Bachelor of Speech, Hearing and Language Science and a Master of Clinical Audiology.
What made you get into audiology?
When I was in my senior years of high school, I knew I wanted to go to University but didn’t know what I wanted to do. I googled “jobs Australia needed” and audiology popped up. I researched the industry and how with it would grow with the ageing population and I was sold. Fortunately, when I started studying the field, I found it really interesting, and it suited me well. I love that audiology is so vast. There are so many areas of practice and so much to learn.
What is your favourite part of your job?
My favourite part of the job is the paediatric hearing assessments. We can assess children as young as 8-9 months old and most of the time these kids are having middle ear issues. It is truly amazing to get to see their progression in both their hearing and speech and language development after they receive their grommets.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
Seeing a lot of paediatric clients, I can find it challenging when we detect a permanent hearing loss. It’s always a difficult conversation to have with the family. However, in Australia, we have one of the best programs to look after children, so it’s really reassuring at the same time.
If you weren’t an audiologist, what would you be?
Probably something still in the allied health world, maybe speech pathology or occupational therapy.
What are you most excited about in the future of audiology?
I am really excited to see the future of the cochlear implant space. With the different brands becoming more competitive every year, I’m interested to see how they innovate their devices to stand apart from the competition and what these advancements could mean to our clients.
