Neurotone Offers Partner Certification Program for Lace Pro and Tinnitus Pro

Neurotone AI has launched a Partner Certification program for hearing care practices and individual providers offering its Lace Pro auditory training platform. A separate certification for its Tinnitus Pro platform is scheduled to become available September 28.

The program has two tracks. Individual providers can complete an assessment and receive a certification for each product. Practices can earn one of three levels of Lace Pro certification or become Tinnitus Pro Certified. Neurotone says the practice designations are intended to help patients and referring physicians identify clinics that have integrated the programs into their care.

The launch reflects Neurotone’s effort to make auditory rehabilitation and tinnitus support more visible and integral parts of hearing healthcare. For a patient, a certification badge could be a starting point for finding a provider who offers one of the programs. For a referring physician, it could help identify a practice that offers auditory training or tinnitus support as part of its hearing care services. What happens after that still depends on the patient’s needs, the providers’ guidance, and how the program fits into a broader treatment plan.

Training and recognition for providers

According to Neurotone’s announcement, individual certification involves a 50-question multiple-choice assessment. Providers can earn separate Lace Pro and Tinnitus Pro credentials and receive a digital badge and certificate that they can display in the clinic or share online.

The courses also offer continuing education. Lace Pro certification is available now for up to 0.3 AAA (American Academy of Audiology) CEUs or 3 IHS (International Hearing Society) CEUs. Tinnitus Pro certification, which Neurotone says will become available September 28, offers up to 0.2 AAA CEUs or 2 IHS credits.

At the practice level, Neurotone offers three Lace Pro certification levels and a separate Tinnitus Pro designation. Certified practices can display badges and certificates, receive marketing materials, and be recognized on the company’s clinic locator, which lists about 1,500 clinics worldwide that offer Lace Pro and Tinnitus Pro through clinicians. Neurotone also lists opportunities to feature participating practices in its promotions.

What is Lace Pro?

Lace Pro is the current version of LACE, or Listening and Communication Enhancement, an auditory training program with roots stretching back more than two decades. It gives patients exercises intended to strengthen skills used in everyday conversation, including understanding speech in noise and following rapid speech. The platform also includes activities addressing attention and working memory. 

While hearing aids improve access to speech sounds, a person may still have trouble following a fast-moving conversation or separating one voice from competing talkers. Lace Pro gives patients a way to practice those listening tasks outside the clinic, with the provider able to make the exercises part of a broader hearing care plan.

As HearingTracker recently explored, connecting auditory training to a specific real-world goal, such as keeping up with conversation at the dinner table, can help. That gives patients and clinicians something more meaningful to discuss than time spent in an app alone. Research on the longstanding LACE program has found improvements in some listening measures, although results have varied across studies and it remains unclear how consistently those gains carry over into everyday communication. 

Tinnitus Pro has its own certification

Neurotone’s Tinnitus Pro platform brings several tinnitus management tools into one patient-facing program. These include sound therapy, educational lessons, guided exercises and meditation, along with ways to record progress. Patients can select sounds and soundscapes and use a tool intended to help match a therapeutic tone to their tinnitus. 

The upcoming Tinnitus Pro certification gives providers a way to learn the platform and show patients that they offer it. It does not imply that one digital program will suit every person with tinnitus. A clinician still needs to assess the patient’s concerns and discuss which approaches are appropriate.

For more information about the Partner Certification program, please visit the Neurotone website.