Meet Dr. Jennifer Gonzalez! Dr. Gonzalez earned both her degrees- Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) and Doctor of Philosophy in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at UConn. Dr. Gonzalez is currently a Consultant in the Division of Audiology, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, an Assistant Professor of Audiology, and is the Medical Director for Audiology Externship and Clinical Rotations Programs at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
Dr. Gonzalez was first introduced to the field of audiology at a young age, after undergoing surgery to have tubes placed in her ears. The experience of having her hearing tested periodically sparked her awareness of audiology and the importance of hearing healthcare. Intrigued by the human body and its complexities, she knew early on that she wanted to pursue a career in the medical field. In college, she was drawn to the complexities of the human brain and how it processes sound, and after learning how greatly these processes impact overall hearing and speech understanding, she decided to focus her research and clinical work on central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) and neuroaudiology.
In her current role, Dr. Gonzalez developed Mayo Clinic’s CAPD and neuroaudiology clinical practice, and she provides direct patient care for diagnosis and management of central auditory nervous system (CANS) disorders and deficits. She provides instruction and hands-on clinical training in the areas of neuroaudiology and CAPD through her work as a clinical educator/preceptor in Mayo Clinic in Arizona’s Audiology Externship Program. Her research is focused on the discovery and further development of clinical tools to evaluate CANS function in people with and without peripheral hearing loss, design targeted individualized plans for treating/managing peripheral hearing loss and CAPD, and measure responses to intervention, including changes in central auditory processing resulting from auditory training and the use of hearing aids. She is a multidisciplinary collaborator, providing comprehensive care and integrating CAPD evaluation results with imaging findings and other diagnostic records. She enjoys the variety and uniqueness of each patient case and having the opportunity to provide meaningful, detailed, and individualized care to her patients. Her work is rewarding because it allows her to validate her clinical findings and offer solutions that directly impact patients’ lives.
A fun fact about Dr. Gonzalez is that she can voluntarily move her eardrums – a rare skill! She also juggled her Ph.D. and Au.D. program with motherhood, having her first child while studying at UConn—her son is now 11 years old.
