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Specialists in Auditority Processing Disorder (APD)

Four young children sitting outdoors, engaging with a guitar and playfully interacting, promoting awareness about auditory processing disorder in NZ

About SoundSkills

Our services

SoundSkills specialises in helping children and adults with communication and/or learning difficulties associated with auditory processing problems. We are unique in having a multidisciplinary team of audiologists, education advisers, a speech language therapist, and an autism adviser. Many of our child clients also have other developmental difficulties. Our services include diagnosis, treatment, management, advice to schools, and referral to other services when needed.

Audiologists

Our audiologists specialise in assessment and management of auditory processing disorders in children and adults. Many of our clients have other conditions such as head injury, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or dyslexia. Our audiologists provide the following services:

assessment and diagnosis of auditory processing difficulties/disorders
assessment of hearing and listening problems associated with other conditions such as autism
preparation of management plans
auditory training
amplification including Remote Microphone Hearing Aid systems and hearing aids with remote microphones
referral to other services if needed.

Our audiologists are available for phone consultations if required.

Education Advisers

Our Education Advisers specialise primarily in supporting students with auditory processing disorder (APD) in the classroom. Our Education Advisers work alongside students, parents and caregivers, Learning Support Coordinators, Special Education Needs Coordinators, and teachers to provide:

information on what APD is and how it affects the learner
guidance on amplification systems for students with APD, including remote microphone hearing aid (RMHA) systems, and hearing aids with accessory remote microphones
advice and guidance on the use and management of amplification systems for APD
RMHA funding advice
information on strategies to support students with APD
facilitation of privately funded trials of amplification systems.
development of trial plans including individualised trial goals that are used to measure the effectiveness of amplification systems in assisting students
ongoing support for students using amplification systems for APD in the classroom, such as meeting with parents/caregivers and school staff, conducting classroom observations and being available for ‘trouble-shooting’.

Specialist Adviser and Researcher

SoundSkills has an autism specialist adviser with a background in Psychology and extensive research experience in the fields of autism and hearing disorders. The Specialist Adviser and Researcher’s areas of responsibility include the following:

provision of information and resources for autism-related services available in New Zealand
triaging of client information from various sources (such as paediatricians, psychologists, speech language therapists, educational psychologists, occupational therapists) to help plan services for individuals with special needs
working with SoundSkills audiologists on personalised APD assessment sessions based on individual children’s needs with the aim of making them effective and positive experiences
attending APD assessment sessions with audiologists and families as required to provide extra assistance
coordinating clinical research projects within SoundSkills, some of which involve giving clients the opportunity to trial new technology or treatment plans in a structured manner with objective, measurable goals.

Clinic Administrators

Our Clinic Administrators are the first point of contact at SoundSkills. They guide clients through the referral process, answering queries and advising on options for audiological assessment and treatment for hearing and listening difficulties. Our Clinic Administrators assist with the following:

booking and managing all appointments
ensuring pre-assessment paperwork is completed and relevant reports and forms are collected and forwarded to clinicians before client appointments
guidance on services and associated costs at SoundSkills
advice on troubleshooting and maintenance of hearing technology equipment.

Our people

Dr Bill Keith

Dr Bill Keith QSO PhD MNZAS

Founder

Dr Bill Keith is an audiologist with over fifty years public and private sector experience.

Bill was Principal Audiologist, National Audiology Centre, Department of Health, and was involved in establishing many hearing services and policies in New Zealand including the University of Auckland School of Medicine audiology training programme and New Zealand's first cochlear implant service. He has continued to consult on various national hearing policy issues.

He established the hearing aid company Phonak New Zealand Ltd (a subsidiary of the Swiss Sonova group) in New Zealand and managed it for eighteen years, earning a number of business awards during that time.

Bill has carried out hearing research in New Zealand and the United States. He is also the inventor of an automated paediatric audiometer that was manufactured and exported from New Zealand for a number of years.

With Phonak colleagues Bill was closely involved with Team New Zealand for over ten years in the development of specialised on-board crew communication systems for their Americas Cup yachts.

Bill has been awarded the honour of Companion of the Queen's Service Order for Public Service, a Fulbright Travel Award for his graduate studies at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and Life Memberships of the NZ Audiological Society and the Hearing Association, Auckland Branch. In 2011 he was awarded the International Award in Hearing by the American Academy of Audiology. AAA Award William Keith

Over the past fifty years Bill has served on numerous health, research, deafness, professional, business and voluntary organisation committees and Boards. He chaired the Northern Cochlear Implant Trust which manages government-funded cochlear implant services and was Deputy Chair of the associated Pindrop Foundation. He served on the Board of the Abilities Foundation Charitable Trust, the National Steering Team for Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (Project HIEDI), and the Scientific Committee and Board of the Deafness Research Foundation. He is also a Past National President of the Hearing Association and is on the Board of the Hearing Association, Auckland.

Bill currently runs SoundSkills, a specialist clinic for children and adults with auditory processing disorder (APD), which he has established to redress the lack of APD services in New Zealand; and carries out APD teaching and research at the University of Auckland.

Chatu Nelumdeniya

Chatu Nelumdeniya MNZAS, CCC, MAud (Hons), MSc, BSc

Audiologist, Director

Chatu Nelumdeniya graduated from the University of Auckland with a Masters in Psychology in 2011 and Masters in Audiology in 2013. Tinnitus is an area that she is particularly passionate about. If you have ever been told you need to "live with it" or "there is no cure", it does not mean you can not manage it and reduce your awareness and how much you are bothered by it. Another area of interest and growing need in Auckland is testing for Auditory Processing Disorder. She does both assessments for children and adults and provide detailed reports and treatment plans including fitting of Remote Microphone Systems.

Leanne Ma

Leanne Ma MNZAS, CCC, MAud (Hons), BSc

Audiologist, Director

Prior to completing her Masters' degree in Audiology, Leanne Ma completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences specialising in Neuroscience and Physiology. Throughout her career, she has been a Clinical Trainer for New Zealand, providing support for experienced clinicians and graduate audiologists across the country. I also had the opportunity to train clinicians in Beijing, sharing best practices internationally and helping shape audiological care overseas. One area that she is passionate about is increasing awareness for the importance of hearing health. The topic of her Masters' thesis looked at the association between hearing and the brain, and over the years she has closely followed the increasing scientific evidence suggesting that looking after your hearing is important for overall wellbeing as we get older. She absolutely loves working with children and particularly care about ensuring that the paediatric population have the hearing and support to develop speech, language and learning. She obtained her Paediatric Practicing Certificate in Visual Reinforcement Audiometry to provide diagnostic care for the delightful little ones under 3 years old; it's always a highlight of the day when one visits our clinic!

Karen Blackall PGDip Ed – Learning and Behaviour, B A, Dip Tchg Hearing Impaired, Dip Tchg

Education Adviser

Karen Blackall is an Education Adviser. She seeks to ensure that the parents, SENCos and teachers of SoundSkills’ child clients have a better understanding of APD and its impacts on learning. She provides advice and guidance on the use of Remote Microphone Hearing Aid (RMHA) systems, the funding eligibility criteria and the trial process. Karen is the link between SoundSkills’ clinic and the school, ensuring optimal learning opportunities for students.

Karen has over 30 years’ experience in the education sector, having held a range of teaching positions that are specialised in nature such as Resource Teacher, Learning and Behaviour (RTLB); and Resource Teacher, Deaf (RTD). She has held leadership positions within schools, working across the primary, intermediate, secondary, and tertiary education sectors. Karen has worked alongside students, parents, and teachers to collaboratively devise interventions to meet students’ individual needs – adapting class-based programmes, scaffolding learning, and using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to promote inclusion.

Karen has presented at conferences and facilitates professional learning for schools in a variety of areas including sensory, learning and behaviour challenges.

Karen enjoys working collaboratively as part of multidisciplinary team both at SoundSkills and within schools to ensure that students reach their learning potential.

Karen Blackall

Dr Joan Leung PhD

Advisor on Hearing for Autism

Dr Joan Leung is a Specialist Adviser and Researcher: ASD and APD at SoundSkills. She is also a post-doctoral researcher at the School of Psychology in the University of Auckland.

Joan has extensive research experience that spans many fields, but primarily in the hearing sciences, and with a special interest in neurodevelopmental disorders and in particular autism. For her doctoral research, Joan helped autistic children improve their speech perception and social communication by providing auditory training plus hearing amplification with remote-microphone hearing systems.

Joan currently splits her time between working at SoundSkills, and on various research projects based at the Universities of Auckland and Otago. She also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate Psychology courses, as well as some modules for the Master of Speech-Language Therapy Practice programme at the University of Auckland.

Joan finds it very rewarding to work alongside the clinicians at SoundSkills with an aim to better serve their ever-expanding and diversifying client base, including children with more severe challenges.

Joan Leung

Our purpose

SoundSkills' vision is to assist people with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) to achieve their optimal communication ability by;

offering comprehensive, expert and up-to-date diagnostic and treatment services for APD
translating scientific research on APD into clinical practice
carrying out research into APD
developing model APD services for others to follow
advocating for better funding and services for people with APD, and
increasing awareness of APD.

SoundSkills strives to provide;

ethical and professional services
a supportive and caring culture, and
expert knowledge and advice.

Our story

SoundSkills was founded by audiologist Dr Bill Keith to provide an expert comprehensive service for the management of APD, a neglected and under-funded area of hearing services. Having studied APD at Baylor College of Medicine in the United States, and dismayed at the lack of APD services in New Zealand, Dr Keith set about bringing together a specialist multi-disciplinary team to develop better APD services in New Zealand.

SoundSkills has since merged with Family Hearing Centre in July 2024, now operated by Chatu Nelumdeniya and Leanne Ma. Both Chatu and Leanne have a great passion with paediatric hearing health, and specialise in APD. SoundSkills is now located at 371 Manukau Road, Epsom at the Family Hearing Centre, on the corner of King Edward Ave.

The SoundSkills APD Clinic opened with one clinician and one clinic room alongside the audiology and speech-language clinics of the School of Population Health at the Tamaki Innovation Campus of the University of Auckland under the University’s policy of encouraging synergistic start-ups to locate on campus. Pre-used equipment was donated by a hearing aid company. When we outgrew the available university space we built a new clinic in The Parenting Place, Greenlane. More equipment was donated by a retail audiology chain. Eventually, bursting at the seams again, we were fortunate to become a foundation tenant in the ideal location of the new purpose-built Hearing House facility, the Stichbury Bidwill Centre. The Centre is the home of The Hearing House, provider of children’s and adult cochlear implant services; and other organisations involved in clinical services and research in communication disorders.

Today our SoundSkills team of specialists in audiology, special education, and autism operates a model clinic serving clients from all over New Zealand, participates in APD teaching and research, disseminates information and knowledge about APD nationally and internationally, advocates for better APD services and funding, and fields inquiries about APD from all over the world.

Our supporters and collaborators

SoundSkills is supported financially by William Keith (founder) and Judith Keith, and has received project and research grants from a variety of organisations including: