Bridging Cultures: Mastering the Art of Cultural Competence

Speaker: Andy Merkley, AuD, CCC-A, CPS/A
Organization: Defense Health Agency - Hearing Center of Excellence
Job Title: Senior Program Manager

Cultural competence is the ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures. The session outlines the five key components of cultural competence: awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behavior. Participants will learn how to improve their intercultural interactions in professional settings.

• Learning Objective 1: List five key components of cultural competence in the context of providing audiological care.
• Learning Objective 2: Describe cultural competence and its importance in audiology practice to enhance patient communication and care.
• Learning Objective 3:  Identify common cultural biases that can affect interactions and treatment outcomes in audiology settings.

About Andy

Dr. John 'Andy' Merkley is an occupational audiologist with over 25 years of experience in both clinical and occupational audiology. He currently works as a contract senior program manager with the Defense Health Agency Hearing Center of Excellence. He holds a Master of Science in Communicative Disorders from Utah State University and a Doctor of Audiology from Central Michigan University. Dr. Merkley's professional associations include the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (AHSA), the Military Audiology Association (MAA) and the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA). In addition, Dr. Merkley represents the Military Audiology Association on the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) and currently serves as the Council Chair. He holds the certificate of clinical competence in Audiology (CCC-A), is a certified CAOHC Course Director (CD) and a CAOHC certified Professional Supervisor (CPS/A).

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