What's An Audiologist

In America alone, there are over 28 million people who suffer from some kind of hearing problem. Many of these are children or teenagers, who often don’t complain about or don’t even understand their hearing impairments. In many cases adults don’t realize the extent of their hearing loss until it’s too late because deterioration is gradual. If you suspect that you or someone you love could be suffering from a hearing impairment, convince them to go see an audiologist.

An audiologist, whether he or she is an audiologist in the Quad-Cities, an audiologist in Missouri, or a Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) audiologist, has a Master’s or Doctoral degree from an accredited university graduate program and specializes in the diagnosis, management and non-medical treatment of hearing and/or balance problems in individuals ranging from newborns to the elderly. Besides graduate education, audiologists must complete a full-time internship and pass a national competency exam. They are certified and licensed.

Audiologists approach treatment of hearing and balance problems with a two-step approach. They first analyze a patient’s complete history and then run a variety of specialized hearing and vestibular tests, which often depend on a patient’s age, health status and developmental level. After analyzing all the data, audiologists sit down and discuss various treatment options with patients. Your audiologist will inform you if you need a hearing aid and he or she may dispense and fit your hearing aid for you as well.

Audiologist employment locations may be found in medical centers and hospitals, though they are not practicing physicians. They work closely with practicing physicians, though, and will refer patients to licensed MDs when a hearing or balance problem requires medical or surgical intervention. Audiologists may have their own private practices, or they may work in schools, universities or government health agencies or other structures. You can also find an audiologist in speech and hearing rehabilitation centers and nursing homes; besides working closely with physicians, they also work closely with hearing aid manufacturers to ensure that the products being released on the market are high-quality and effective. Audiologists also participate in hearing research.

Audiologists can also be found in schools, both private and public, offering many types of rehabilitative and hearing services for children with hearing problems, helping them properly develop language and learning skills. For older patients, audiologists, regardless of their work setting, can offer counseling to help the hearing impaired become better adjusted to life.
Audiologists can also train patients or their parents on the benefits of communication and assistive listening devices.

You can look online to find an audiologist in an audiologist directory for your area. You can also look online if an audiologist is not who you’d like to contact but who you’d like to become; and audiologist programs to prepare you for audiologist career opportunities can be found across the country.