James Jerger obtained his Ph.D. degree in Audiology from Northwestern University in 1954. After 7 years on the NU faculty he moved to Washington, D.C. and joined the faculty of Gallaudet College. In 1962 he moved to Houston as Director of Research for the Houston Speech & Hearing Center. In 1968 he joined the faculty of the Baylor College of Medicine as professor of Audiology and Head, Division of Audiology and Speech Pathology, where he remained until 1997. Jerger is currently Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Texas/Dallas where he continues his research on auditory aging, especially the topographic brain mapping of auditory event-related potentials. He continues to teach audiology students at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders and directs doctoral studies in the School of Human Development.

Over the years Jerger's research and clinical interest have focused on the development and evaluation of tools for the refinement of audiological diagnosis. His work includes studies of intensity discrimination (the "SISI" test), auditory adaptation and fatigue, speech audiometry, immittance audiometry, dichotic listening, and auditory evoked potentials. He is the author or co-author of 295 publications in the field (but who counts?).