Moving Beyond Auditory Speech: Improving Equity for Patients and Providers with Diverse Communication Needs

Despite the prevalence of hearing loss or deafness, many physicians are unfamiliar with how best to support patients and colleagues with diverse communication needs. This gap in knowledge has significant implications for patient safety, health equity, and inclusivity for both patients and health care professionals.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, hearing loss affects one in eight Americans, including nearly half of those over age 75. Hearing loss may be congenital in nature, or may develop later in life due to aging, disease processes affecting the auditory pathway, as an iatrogenic result of ototoxic therapy, among others. Patients and providers with hearing loss or deafness comprise a heterogeneous group, consisting of several different sub-populations, facing different barriers, and having different needs, preferences, cultures and senses of identity. Despite the prevalence of hearing loss or deafness, there is a significant unmet need to improve accessibility in the health care system for both patients and health care professionals with diverse communication needs. From a patient perspective, navigating a system centered in spoken English can compromise patient safety, lead to inequitable care and decrease patient satisfaction. For physicians and other health care professionals, the lack of an inclusive and accessible environment can present barriers to clinical practice and can affect both training and professional advancement. In this activity, learners first hear a patient perspective on the impact of addressing diverse communication needs and preferences on improving the patient experience. They then learn about recent advances in hearing research and will develop an understanding of how they can better support patients, trainees and providers with diverse communication needs.

Topics:

  1. When Spoken Communication Falls Short of True Cognition
    Colin Hill, MD
  2. A Multisensory Approach to Improving Care for Patients with Diverse Communication Needs
    Lin L. Zhu, MD, PhD
  3. A Patient Perspective on Navigating the Healthcare System
    Corey Axelrod
  4. Epidemiology of Hearing Loss (HL) in Cancer Survivors and a Simple Tool to Screen for HL in Clinic 
    Qian Wang, MD, MPH
  5. Improving Recruitment of Patients with Diverse Communication Needs
    Michelle S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, MPH
  6. Architectural Design: Creating Visually Accessible Space for People with Diverse Communication Needs
    Hansel Bauman, NA
  7. Q and A
    Colin Hill, MD - Moderator
    Full Panel

This activity is available from March 25, 2025, through 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on March 24, 2027. 

The content was originally presented and recorded at the 2024 ASTRO Annual Meeting.

Target Audience

The activity is designed to meet the interests of medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, nurses and radiation therapists. 

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

  • Develop an appreciation for the heterogeneity in the population with hearing loss or deafness and understand how this drives the differences in communication needs, preferences and sense of identity/culture among this population.  
  • Describe how patients within this population are vulnerable to inequities in cancer care and explain how current clinical practices exacerbate disparities among patients and providers with diverse communication needs. 
  • Identify opportunities for radiation oncologists to develop inclusive practices for patients and providers with diverse communication needs. 
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
    The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education for physicians. ASTRO designates this Enduring material for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
  • 1.25 Certificate of Attendance
    This activity was designated for 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.
Course opens: 
03/25/2025
Course expires: 
03/24/2027
Cost:
$0.00
Rating: 
0
  • Lin L. Zhu, MD, PhD, is employed by Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. 
  • Colin Hill, MD, is employed by New York University Grossman School of Medicine.  
  • Corey Axelrod is employed by 2axend. 
  • Qian Wang, MD, MPH, is employed by University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.
  • Michelle S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, MPH, is employed by Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Ludwig receives compensation as a consultant with Innovaderm. Dr. Ludwig serves in an uncompensated role as an advisory board member of the Immunization Partnership. 
  • Hansel Bauman, NA, is employed by Gallaudet University and Hansel Bauman Architecture and Planning. 

The person(s) above served as the developer(s) of this activity. Additionally, the ASTRO Education Committee had control over the content of this activity. All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated.

Disclosure link: 
ASTRO Education Committee

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Available Credit

  • 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
    The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education for physicians. ASTRO designates this Enduring material for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
  • 1.25 Certificate of Attendance
    This activity was designated for 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Price

Cost:
$0.00
Please login or register to take this course.

Course Fees:
ASTRO members must log in to the ASTRO website to view and receive the member rate.

  • Nonmember: $0.00
  • Member: $0.00
  • Member-in-Training: $0.00
  • Student/Graduate Student/PGY-1 Member: $0.00
  • Postdoctoral Fellow Member: $0.00

If you are an ASTRO member from a low or lower-middle income country, as identified by the World Bank, you can receive a 50% discount off your corresponding registration for this activity. Please email [email protected] to inquire about the discount.

Policies:
No refunds, extensions, or substitutions will be made for those participants who, for any reason, have not completed the activity by the expiration date. 

Participants using ASTRO Academy activities to satisfy the requirement of a Continuing Certification (MOC) program should verify the credit number and type and availability dates of any activity before making a purchase. No refunds, extensions, or substitutions will be made for participants who have purchased activities that do not align with their MOC requirement.

The activity and its materials will only be available on the ASTRO website until March 24, 2027, regardless of purchase date. At the expiration of the activity, participants will no longer have access to the activity or its materials. ASTRO reserves the right to remove an activity before its expiration date. 

Required Hardware/software

One of the two latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari.