MERGING PASSION WITH A PROFESSION:
25A
Dr. Melissa E. Heche, AuD
SOUND TWISTS IN CAREER By Dr. Melissa E. Heche, AuD s a child, I always knew that I wanted
the adjustable parameters translated
to be a performer…. a Broadway
in both forums. Recognizing this, I
Star, like Bernadette Peters or
looked at the relationship between
Bette Midler. I studied voice and
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acting from the time I was a child
perception and the brain response. To
and participated in local and
better understand these relationships,
regional theatre until I was a teenager, when I
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started auditioning professionally. At that time,
my graduate education, I became a
I studied musical theatre more formally and
sound engineer. This allowed me to
honed my skills as a musician on vocals and
better understand technology and
percussion. Being a performer was completely
branch music, sound, audiology and
my career plan.
speech communication to help my WH[PLU[Z TVYL LќLJ[P]LS`
Until it wasn’t. Shortly after, I began incorporating As a musician and performer in regional theatre
music within my private audiology
and television, I was focused on making it my
practice. I use music as a part of my
lifetime career despite any uncertainties in
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the industry. Then, a twist of fate steered me
loss, processing loss and tinnitus. Then,
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I began to focus on
diction class in a college theatre program,
the hearing healthcare
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needs of the music
and accents. Learning about the linguistic
industry.
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education to musicians
on acoustics, which led to a path towards
with respect to their
speech pathology and audiology. I continued
exposure to noise/loud
to audition and perform while pursuing degrees
music and its potential
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impact on their hearing
acquisition/reduction, a skill that I used both
function. I performed
in my own performances and in vocal/speech
specialized
training for other performers. That kept me in
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the performance space. Ultimately, however,
counseled on healthy
it was the marriage of acoustics, music and
hearing
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for
based audiology practice.
avocational musicians.
In my practice of diagnosing and treating hearing
Eventually,
I
began
loss, I became interested in the similarities
speaking
on
these
between programming hearing aids and mixing
topics to musicians and
music on a soundboard. The frequency bands
industry
in the hearing aid software were reminiscent
at trade shows such
of faders on the mixing board, and many of
as
www.markseidenfeld.com
76
Metropolitan Magazine | metmagny.com
I
provided
hearing
practices
professional
and
professionals
NAMM
(National
Photo Credits: top: Kadey Kia Photography; bottom: Alexa Jae Photography