{"id":1088,"date":"2023-11-01T15:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T20:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/?p=1088"},"modified":"2026-01-21T17:17:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:17:21","slug":"ku-audiology-jessica-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/ku-audiology-jessica-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"KU-trained audiologist shares hearing loss experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jessica Whitfill Johnson suspected she was missing out. Although the sociable 24-year-old was frequently in the company of friends, classmates and co-workers, sharing in the spontaneous magic of conversation often proved elusive. The world seemed muffled by an invisible barrier that kept genuine connection and all of its joys just out of reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would try to be a part of conversations, but I was bluffing,\u201d recalls Johnson, c\u201917, AUD\u201921, now 28. \u201cI\u2019d laugh along when other people were laughing, but I didn\u2019t know what the joke was. I\u2019d completely missed the joke because I couldn\u2019t hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feeling was, unfortunately, familiar. Born with an atypical right ear, Johnson had first experienced hearing loss even earlier in her life. She began using a hearing aid at 14, and while the technology saw her through high school and her undergraduate years at KU, by the time she was a student in the University\u2019s doctor of audiology program, it was no longer powerful enough to overcome her hearing deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jessica Johnson at American Hearing + Audiology in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she has practiced since March 2022.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy hearing loss had progressed, and for a long time I had quite a bit of social anxiety,\u201d she says. \u201cI think a lot of it stemmed from being fearful of saying the wrong thing or laughing at the wrong time or responding inappropriately to a question because I couldn\u2019t hear it. It was very isolating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, thanks to a hearing implant, Johnson has a full range of hearing, and equipped with her KU degrees, she is often a first refuge for others struggling with hearing difficulties. Her own experience allows her to offer both care and compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI understand what they\u2019re going through on a personal level, and I think a lot of patients appreciate that,\u201d says Johnson, who practices at American Hearing + Audiology in Tulsa, Oklahoma. \u201cBeing able to spend my career helping people hear better when that\u2019s what I needed myself\u2014it makes me feel so fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Johnson was born with microtia, a condition that caused her right ear to be small and malformed. \u201cWith microtia, I was essentially born without an ear canal, and then the tiny little bones in the middle ear, called the ossicles, weren\u2019t structured properly,\u201d Johnson says. Microtia commonly results in conductive hearing loss, which occurs when sound can\u2019t be effectively transmitted into the cochlea, the hearing-sense organ in the inner ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctors informed Johnson\u2019s parents, Charles and Kindra Whitfill, that her right ear\u2019s inner components functioned well, and that a series of surgeries\u2014best started at age 6\u2014to open up her ear canal and restructure the middle ear bones could counter the hearing loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Johnson grew from an easygoing baby to a thoughtful young girl, the Whitfills weighed the decision and worked to instill in their daughter confidence around communication. \u201cRaising her, we made it a priority to make sure she understood conversations, and we taught her to ask, \u2018Can you repeat that?\u2019 if there was something she didn\u2019t hear,\u201d says her mom, Kindra. \u201cWe worried that her hearing loss would have social effects, but for Jessica it never did. She was always very active, always trying new things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the Whitfills wanted to take every step to ensure Johnson\u2019s hearing loss wouldn\u2019t hold her back as she got older. They opted to move forward with surgery, and from age 6 to 9, Johnson underwent nine procedures to restructure her outer and middle right ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Johnson as a baby (top) and at age 6 after her first ear surgery, with her mom.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Johnson didn\u2019t detect any trouble with her hearing during her younger years, but by the time she was in high school\u2014in Wichita, after growing up throughout the Midwest as her dad completed his training as a physician\u2014she\u2019d begun to notice gaps in her perception. \u201cWhen I was little, I think I just kind of got by. I probably wasn\u2019t paying much attention to it,\u201d Johnson recalls. \u201cBut in middle school and high school, the auditory environments we\u2019re in get much more complex. I have this distinct memory of being in high school and my friends telling me they would yell my name down the hallway, and I just flat out couldn\u2019t hear them. I\u2019d have no idea they were trying to get my attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hearing test at 14 confirmed Johnson\u2019s hearing in her right ear wasn\u2019t at full capacity. Her audiologist presented two courses of action: more surgery or a hearing aid. Johnson chose the hearing aid, and the device\u2019s immediate impact left an impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember it was fall, and I could hear the leaves rustling the first day I got my hearing aid,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure what the sound was, and I remember having to ask my mom.\u201d It\u2019s a memory she shares frequently today when fitting patients with their first hearing aids, to prepare them for the minute sounds that may suddenly surface. \u201cMost hearing loss typically comes on so gradually that people don\u2019t notice it\u2019s gone until they get tested, someone tells them it\u2019s gone, and they get fitted with a hearing aid,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cMy patients will say things like, \u2018I had no idea the turn signal in my car made a noise.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson\u2019s enhanced hearing transformed her time in high school. \u201cParticipating and following along in class became so much easier,\u201d she says. \u201cI could hear the conversation at the lunch table. I could hear what was going on when we broke into groups in class. I could hear my friends whisper to me.\u201d Singing in choir, a favorite activity, was no longer an exercise in guesswork. \u201cIt was a little bit easier when I could hear my cue to come in,\u201d she jokes. \u201cI did a lot better in choir after that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A diligent student, Johnson set her sights on college and ultimately decided to follow in the footsteps of her big sister, Madelyn, d\u201915, and attend KU. Her next chapter would bring a rewarding career path into focus and an old obstacle back to the forefront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When she arrived on Mount Oread in fall 2013, Johnson was undecided on her major. One day, casually discussing her options on the phone with her mom, the conversation turned to audiology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember my mom saying, \u2018What about audiology? You know what it\u2019s like to have hearing loss.\u2019 And my first thought was, \u2018Why would I do that<\/em>, Mom?\u2019\u201d Johnson laughs. The suggestion stuck, however, and the following semester, Johnson took the introductory course in the department of speech-language-hearing, part of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The class, particularly the section about the ear, intrigued her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEars and hearing aren\u2019t things we think about a whole lot,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cFor me, I think my fascination with the ear probably came from the fact that I didn\u2019t grow up having two normal ears. In a sense, I understood that I was born with microtia and that I had hearing loss, but I didn\u2019t know how the whole system worked, where the breakdown was exactly. So learning about this very complex organ that has a very fine-tuned way of working was so fascinating to me. I declared my major after I took that class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in speech-language-hearing and started her graduate work in August 2017. In KU\u2019s doctor of audiology program, her affinity for ears and their functioning broadened into a passion for working with patients. \u201cI remember coming home after my first couple of days of clinical rotations and being so excited,\u201d she says. \u201cI loved every moment of it, and I remember thinking, \u2018This is how I know I\u2019m supposed to be doing this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Johnson was about midway through the four-year program, she began to suspect her hearing ability had regressed. Keeping up with conversations had become increasingly difficult, and everyday sounds had slowly dulled. She asked a classmate to test her hearing, and discovered that even with her hearing aid, her hearing was again not at full capacity. Her unique external ear structure from her surgeries limited her options for hearing aids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a serendipitous turn, Johnson was taking the class on hearing implants around the time her hearing loss reemerged. She learned about a system made by the brand Cochlear called the Osia. It consists of two parts, an implant and an external sound processor. The implant is positioned behind the ear, just under the skin. The sound processor, held to the implant via magnetic connection, converts sound to a digital signal, which the implant uses to generate mechanical vibrations. To Johnson, it seemed the perfect solution. \u201cThe implant sends vibrations to the inner ear, the cochlea, and I\u2019ve got normal hearing there,\u201d she says. \u201cAll my hearing loss is in the middle and outer ear structures. So the implant bypasses everything that doesn\u2019t work properly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her professor pointed her toward specialists in the Kansas City area, and in September 2020, Johnson had her hearing implant placed. When her doctor activated the sound processor a month later, the difference surprised her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe first couple of weeks, I was amazed and somewhat baffled at how much better I could hear,\u201d she says. \u201cI was working full time in my residency, and I remember people calling my name down the hall in the clinic, and I could hear<\/em> them. That was a bizarre experience for me. Going out to restaurants and group gatherings in general, I didn\u2019t have to struggle and stress and strain to hear what people were saying. I could finally be a part of the conversation again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She graduated with her doctor of audiology degree in spring 2021 and began working at an ear, nose and throat practice in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She joined the American Hearing + Audiology clinic in Tulsa in March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Johnson evaluates patients for hearing loss, tinnitus\u2014a ringing in the ear\u2014and a condition called auditory processing disorder, which relates to the brain\u2019s interpretation of sounds. She also sees patients for hearing aid fittings and checks. Empathy and problem-solving are at the heart of her practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of my biggest goals is to make sure that every patient feels like they\u2019ve been heard and that they\u2019ve gotten answers to what they came in asking,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the medical world, sometimes we can feel like we\u2019re just another number, just another patient getting pushed through the system, so it\u2019s important to me that patients know I\u2019m always going to do my best to get them hearing better, to get them more relief from their tinnitus, to give them the right recommendations for their auditory processing disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empowerment around hearing is another emphasis for Johnson. \u201cYou have every right to advocate for yourself and let your friends and family and those around you know what you need from them in order to be able to communicate,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the takeaways I hope my patients get: that it\u2019s OK to ask somebody to repeat themselves. You don\u2019t have to fake your way through a conversation just so you don\u2019t make the other person uncomfortable\u2014because they\u2019ll get over it,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She hopes, too, for a shift in attitudes toward hearing loss and assistive technology. \u201cWhen people have unclear vision, they go get their eyes checked and get glasses, and it\u2019s not a big deal,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cMy hope is that people who struggle with their hearing go to the audiologist and get hearing aids, and it\u2019s not seen as a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cConnecting with patients on shared experiences we have from living with hearing loss can be very validating,\u201d Johnson says.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since getting her hearing implant, Johnson has volunteered as a resource for others considering the Cochlear Osia system. She meets with prospective users virtually to talk with them about the process and answer their questions. \u201cI feel like I get to, in a way, calm their fears, give them a better picture of what surgery looks like, what recovery looked like for me, and what it\u2019s like to hear through an implant, which is kind of an abstract thing to try to explain to people,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She lives in Tulsa with her husband, Luke, and their dogs, Lucky, Lando and Lily. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, crafting and live music, and delights in the little pleasures her better hearing affords her: listening to birds chirping, the breeze through the trees, wind chimes dancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Johnson, her path epitomizes a lighthearted lesson\u2014\u201cSometimes mom is right!\u201d\u2014and is a testament to the satisfaction that comes from heeding one\u2019s calling. \u201cThe saying, \u2018If you find something you love, you\u2019ll never work a day in your life\u2019\u2014that\u2019s how audiology has been for me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally evident in her story are themes of resilience and purpose. \u201cYou can persevere through anything,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cEven if you go through something difficult or feel very different from other people, you can learn and grow from that experience, and can even build a career and a whole life out of it. It doesn\u2019t have to be something that shapes you negatively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KU audiology: A distinguished program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The audiology profession, which focuses on the evaluation and treatment of hearing and balance disorders, is relatively young, having emerged in the 1940s when soldiers returned home from World War II with hearing loss. KU\u2019s audiology program began at KU Medical Center in the late 1940s and was among the first in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the disciplines of audiology and speech pathology were established enough that there was a credentialing body, KU was the very first program to be accredited in both,\u201d says Tiffany Johnson, associate professor of audiology and chair of the department of hearing and speech at KU Medical Center. \u201cSo our accreditation number is 1.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, KU\u2019s doctor of audiology degree<\/a> is part of the intercampus program in communicative disorders, which comprises audiology and speech pathology and brings together faculty from the Lawrence campus and KU Medical Center to teach in the graduate programs. Students on the four-year audiology track complete rotations in a network of 36 clinics in the Greater Kansas City area. \u201cWe want students to get exposure across the scope of the profession, because they often don\u2019t really know what they\u2019re going to enjoy doing,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cSo it\u2019s to their benefit to try all of it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Mann, AUD\u201911, PhD\u201921, clinical associate professor of audiology and director of the neuroaudiology clinic in The University of Kansas Health System, says such variety gives students valuable insight into audiology\u2019s wealth of professional possibilities. \u201cAn audiologist might work in a school, in a hospital, a private practice, a VA system, a research setting,\u201d Mann says. \u201cA lot of people won\u2019t have the same job throughout their career, and it\u2019s cool to see when students graduate, all the different shapes their careers take over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks KU\u2019s audiology program in the top 10 at public universities, and Johnson credits alumni for adding to the distinction. \u201cWe have a lot of students who stay in the area, but we also have people who go around the country and around the world to work, teach and research. I think people interact with them and see how well prepared they are, and that contributes to the rankings\u2014the quality of the students who graduate from this program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Megan Hirt, c\u201908, j\u201908, is managing editor of Crimson & Blue.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portraits by Charlie Neuenschwander
Childhood photos courtesy of Jessica Johnson<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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