National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR)

NCRAR Monthly Seminar Series - CEU Details

The current month's seminar info and CEU documents are below (see highlighted section when you scroll to the bottom of the page).

Date: Thursday, January 22, 2026, 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Pacific)

Time: 12-1pm (Pacific)

Location: VA Portland Health Care System, NCRAR (Virtual)

Speakers: Lee E. Neilson, MD, with MIRECC, and Kelly Reavis, PhD, MPH, CCC-A, with the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR), VA Portland Healthcare System.

Title: Hearing Loss and Incident Parkinson's Disease: Do Hearing Aids Make a Difference?
(Co-sponsor: VA Ann Arbor GRECC)

Course details: The purpose of this live, virtual knowledge-based training series is to enhance participants' insight into how sensory loss (e.g., hearing loss, balance difficulties, loss of sensation) can potentially impact older adults' functional status, mobility, and cognition. This session will cover evidence-based clinical considerations relevant to the care of older adults to help maintain independence, improve function, and enhance aging in place where possible. This is appropriate for health care professionals in all care areas. There is a growing but underrecognized link between age-related hearing loss and neurodegenerative disease risk, creating a significant gap between current and expected knowledge among healthcare teams. Clinicians in neurology, geriatrics, primary care, and audiology often do not consider hearing loss as a potential early marker of Parkinson disease (PD) nor fully appreciate the role of hearing rehabilitation in modifying downstream outcomes. Evidence for this gap is demonstrated by the recent study Hearing Loss, Incident Parkinson Disease, and Treatment With Hearing Aids (JAMA Neurology, 2024), which showed that hearing loss is associated with increased risk of incident PD and that hearing aid use is linked to reduced PD risk, findings that many clinicians are not yet integrating into practice. This educational activity will summarize the evidence, clarify possible mechanisms, and provide guidance on incorporating routine hearing assessment and timely referral into PD risk evaluation and patient care. As a result, participants are expected to improve their ability to identify hearing loss as a modifiable sensory impairment relevant to neurodegenerative health, strengthen interdisciplinary referral pathways, and enhance patient counseling and management.

ASHA CEU Details: ASHA CEUs (0.1) can only be offered for the live (virtual) presentation.

REGISTER FOR THE SEMINAR:
The registration process for this seminar is a different format from our typical process, so please see the attached flyers for registration links and instructions and further details below:
TMS Registration Tutorial Flyer
TRAIN Flyer

After pre-registering for a live webinar, TMS will email you a confirmation of registration with an outlook calendar. 

1. The calendar event must be added to personal outlook calendars
2. There is no link in to join the meeting included in the TMS confirmation. It is just a reminder to return to TMS to start the course the day of the presentation.

DAY-OF SEMINAR:

On the day of the event, and when ready to join the event, the participants will find the course in TMS and locate the Join the Meeting link.

This is an important step as this is the first listed content item that must be completed before they can Confirm Attendance.

1. Locate the course in TMS (use the search bar and Item number 131022208)
2. Locate the Start Course hyperlink
3. Click the Join the Meeting link

AFTER THE SEMINAR:

1. After the training, you may have to return the content list to Confirm Attendance
2. Complete the Survey. Though some surveys may be optional, they are important for several reasons:
   1. Survey may be mandatory for certain professional groups for certain trainings
      1. Surveys are only available for 15 days after the training
      2. If the survey was mandatory but not completed, a CE Certificate will not be available later
   2. Surveys provide important feedback to the developers and presenters
   3. Surveys completed by certain professional could allow us to convert a session (if recorded) to an enduring one.
      1. For example, if the Live Session offered Physical Therapy APTA CEs, but no PTs did the survey, we cannot offer APTA on the enduring recording event.
3. Print your CE Certificate for your files.

For NON-VA attendees only: If you are an ASHA member and would like to receive 0.1 ASHA CEUs for attending the seminar, you will need a TMS account since ASHA CEUs are not offered through VHA TRAIN. Please contact Darrin.Way@va.gov for assistance in setting up a TMS account.

NCRAR is approved by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association to offer 0.1 CEU for this continuing education activity (Advanced level, Professional Area).