Animal Audiology Workshop & IHS Training


Tier 1 Veterinary Medical Center is now offering a one-day audiology workshop at our state-of the-art facility. Taught by Dr. Peter M. ‘Skip’ Scheifele LCDR USN (Ret.), this workshop features a half-day of lecture and half-day in the lab. Both Doctors of Veterinary Medicine and Licensed Veterinary Technicians are welcome to enroll.

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Workshop Schedule

Lesson 1: General Audiology


This lesson will cover the basic rudiments of hearing and audiology including: 

  • Hearing acuity basics 
  • Audiological operation and mechanics of the ear, central auditory nervous system, and auditory cortex 
  • Hearing loss 
  • Impacts of noise

Upon completion of this lesson the participant should: 

  • Understand the audiological function and operation of the parts of the outer, middle, inner ear, the central auditory nervous system, and auditory cortex including signal processing, auditory scene analysis, and localization 
  • Be able to know and diagnose mild, moderate, severe, and profound hearing loss based upon test results.
  • Know the current state of congenital hearing loss in dogs
  • Know the different types of noise characterizations
  • Understand sensorineural and conductive hearing loss
  • Know what is required to have a noise-induced hearing loss
  • Know the human and animal federal [OSHA] definitions of exposure
  • Understand the impacts of kennel noise, shooting and environmental noise on animal  hearing

Lesson 2: Canine Hearing


This lesson will cover congenital profound deafness in dogs, noise impacts on canine hearing, canine hearing protection, canine permissible exposure level, auditory and vibratory impacts to canine audition, hearing threshold shifts and recovery. 

Upon completion of this lesson the participant should: 

  • Understand the current status of congenital hearing loss in the United States
  • Know what PEL is.
  • Know the canine hearing threshold curve and how to interpret it
  • Be aware of various types of hearing protection
  • Know what sudden onset deafness is

Lesson 3: Audiological Testing (Domestic)


This lesson will cover the typical types of electrophysical hearing tests on domestic animals including: BAER, DPOAE, and Wide-Band Immittance. It will discuss what each test is designed to do and what the general results mean for diagnoses. The lesson will also cover the relationship of canine audiological testing to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals and the AKC. The basic audiological protocol analysis of BAER testing will be taught. 

Upon completion of this lesson the participant should: 

  • Understand what Auditory Evoked Potentials (AEP) is and what an Event-Response Potentials (ERP) are.
  • What a BAER, DPOAE, and Immittance tests are and what they actually test.
  • Know what an Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) is.

Lesson 4: Canine Deafness


This lesson will cover the history of deafness in dogs, affected breeds, myths, differences in behavior and training in deaf dogs, and our current research and application of hearing aids in dogs. 

Upon completion of this lesson the participant should:

  • Understand the history and causes of congenital deafness in dogs.
  • Common things that make people suspect that a dog is deaf, and common tests that lead people falsely to believe their dog can hear.
  • Know where to find a listing of breeds that routinely suffer congenital deafness.
  • Understand and differentiate the myths surrounding deaf dogs.
  • Have a basic understanding of living with and typical behaviors of deaf dogs.
  • Understand some basic differences in philosophy in working with deaf dogs.
  • Have a general knowledge about putting hearing aids on a dog.
  • Discussion of when hearing aids may or may not be appropriate for an animal.

Join Us for One of Our Upcoming Audiology Workshops!

Enroll for October 16th
Enroll for October 17th