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New York Speech and Hearing
Melissa E. Heche, AuD, ABA Certified, CH-TM, is the owner and director of New York Speech and Hearing—a private practice based in New York City that focuses on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of auditory disorders, tinnitus, and voice disorders. Treatment measures include amplification devices, aural rehabilitation, tinnitus management, and specialized voice therapy.
Dr. Heche is dually certified in audiology and speech pathology. She completed her doctorate of audiology at Salus University and earned dual master’s degrees (speech pathology/audiology) at Hofstra University. She holds a Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) certificate as a professional supervisor in hearing conservation and is a certificate holder of tinnitus management (CH-TM) from the American Board of Audiology in Tinnitus Management.
Dr. Heche works in occupational hearing conservation and is a specialist in musician’s hearing health care, providing specific diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for musicians and fitting with appropriate musician products. She is a performing musician and a certified sound engineer with experience in live music venue sound systems. This experience has made her a resource for hearing health care in the music industry and has facilitated in depth work in hearing aid technology within the audiological field.
She is active with the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) organization, with whom she participates in lobbying events promoting early hearing conservation as a part of music education. Dr. Heche has worked with the Audio Engineering Society, providing support for hearing testing and musician/audio options.
Dr. Heche provides informational seminars on topics including: musicians’ hearing health-care issues, tinnitus, occupational hearing loss, hearing aid technology and hearing loss, and business practices. She has been published in national trade journals, discussing increased access to audiological services, noise-induced hearing loss, hearing aids, and musician’s hearing health care. She has recently been seen on affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC, and cable syndicated news, discussing noise exposure, hearing loss, hearing aids, and tinnitus.
Using case studies, she is active in research involving tinnitus treatments and perceptive sound processing. In recent years, she has been studying the endocannabinoid system, how it relates to auditory and communication disorders, and potential nontraditional treatments.
Clinical experience also includes neurogenic speech disorders, head/neck cancers, tracheostomies/ventilators, and traumatic brain injuries. Practice settings include acute care, subacute care, and outpatient medical care.
Dr. Heche served a term as the secretary/treasurer on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Audiology from 2017-2020. She is also a member of the National Academies of Practice (inducted 2020), the National Hearing Conservation Association, Audio Engineering Society, National Association of Music Merchants, American Speech-Language Hearing Association, and the Academy of Doctors of Audiology in addition to local and regional organizations. Outside of professional organizations, she regularly lobbies on behalf of issues directly related to senior health care. She is licensed to practice audiology/speech pathology in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Florida.
Disclosure(s): No financial or nonfinancial relationships to disclose
OL304 - Advocacy Ambassador Program: Grassroots Ambassador Graduation - C4
Friday, April 24, 2026
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM CST