Tracy James MSc CAC RHAD
Director and Owner of Tracy James Audiology Services
Tracy grew up in the North East of England (Chester-le-street, Co. Durham) and left home to study at 18 years of age. After completing her Masters degree in Audiology at Southampton, she worked at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton for 5 years where she completed her clinical training and achieved registration as a Clinical Scientist in Audiology. In 2008 she moved to Newbury for work at Mary Hare as the Course Leader for the MSc in Educational Audiology and paediatric audiologist. In Newbury she met and married her husband and settled in the area.
In 2012, Tracy started her own business (part-time 2 days a week) while working as the Paediatric Audiology Service Lead for the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. This started as a series of BSA (British Society of Audiology) accredited training courses for individuals (e.g. GPs and nurses) who needed audiological skills such as impression-taking and hearing tests.
In 2014 Tracy committed to self-employment full-time and ran the training business while developing the hearing business at the same time. This started with testing infant’s and children’s hearing privately and eventually Tracy started dispensing private hearing aids for those children who were unable to get on with their NHS aids.
In 2017 Tracy welcomed her first daughter to the James’ household.
In 2018 Tracy’s purpose made clinic room was a welcome addition to her new house and Tracy started seeing adults as well as children.
In 2020 during lockdown, the training business had to pause, so the hearing business expanded to include regular microsuction clinics and hearing tests and hearing aids for adults.
In 2021 Tracy welcomed her 2nd daughter to the James’ household.
In 2022 Louise Hart started working with Tracy part-time in order to run the training business so that Tracy could commit to the hearing side of the business.
In 2023 Tracy has over 50 hearing aid clients and continues to test and support children with hearing loss and hearing aids in the Berkshire and Hampshire area. Her team includes Louise Hart who works full-time as an audiologist and trainer, Kirsteen our training admin manager and Gemma our hearing admin manager.
Tracy has over 20 years experience in Audiology as a clinician, lecturer and trainer.
Her clinical experience includes audiovestibular assessment and (re)habilitation of adult and paediatrics, from routine to complex cases. Tracy has a specific interest in paediatric audiology and auditory processing disorders.
Tracy is a member of the British Society of Audiology, British Academy of Audiology and is HCPC registered. She is also a teaching fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Qualifications:
2001 – BSc in Genetics, University of Wales Aberystwyth
2003 – MSc in Audiology, Southampton and Best Dissertation Prize for Human Sciences
2005 – Certificate in Audiological Competence (Paediatric Audiology, Vestibular Assessment and Rehabilitation and Adult Hearing Care)
2005 – British Sign Language Level 1
2006 – Registration Completed as a Clinical Scientist in Audiology (Health and Care Professionals Council and Association of Clinical Scientists)
2008 - Registration Completed as a Hearing Aid Dispenser (Health and Care Professionals Council)
Professional Bodies and Organisations:
Full member of the British Society of Audiology (BSA)
Full member of the British Academy of Audiology
Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) Registered Hearing Aid Dispenser
HCPC Registered Clinical Scientist
Interests and Publications:
IQUIPs Assessor in Audiology. United Kingdom Accreditation Service, Surrey. Visiting assessor for paediatric audiology services undergoing accreditation by UKAS
BSA Paediatric Audiology Special Interest Group Member.
BSA Auditory Processing Disorder Special Interest Group Member
2010 – 2015 – Member of the British Society of Audiology Professional Practice Committee. Development of national protocols and practice guidance for the British Society of Audiology. Lead author and consultation for BSA protocols in paediatric impression-taking and visual reinforcement audiometry.
Draper THJ, Munro KJ, Van Dun B and Dillon H (2010).The use of speech stimuli to elicit aided cortical auditory evoked potentials in teenagers with hearing impairment: performance characteristics, subject considerations and clinical relevance. Poster Presentation, BSA 2010
Draper THJ, Bamiou D-E (2006). Auditory Neuropathy in a Patient Exposed to Xylene: A Case Study. Journal Of Otolaryngology
Draper THJ (2003). Hearing and Melanin Type. Dissertation Thesis, University of Southampton, ISVR [Not Published]