An audiologist is a health professional who has been trained to assess, diagnose, test for, and help people compensate for hearing problems through extensive clinical work and education. When hearing problems are diagnosed, they may be able to assist people in coping with them or make recommendations for medical treatment that may be able to alleviate or eliminate them. As of 2007, all audiologists entering this field in the United States must have a doctorate degree in audiology from an accredited university.
Because approximately 28 million Americans suffer from some form of hearing loss, the work of an audiologist is critical, and it should be noted that hearing loss does not only affect the elderly. There are many children who have significant hearing loss, as well as teens and young adults who have minor or major hearing problems. An audiologist’s accurate diagnosis can frequently assist people in leading very normal and purposeful lives. Hearing impairments that go undiagnosed, especially those that are minor to moderate, can have a big impact on people’s lives, affecting school performance, social interaction, and self-esteem. Mental illness, ADHD, other learning disorders, or speech/language impairment can all be misdiagnosed as hearing problems.
The audiologist can work in a variety of settings and is trained to work with people of all ages, from infants to adults. Some audiologists work for schools, assisting with hearing screening and diagnosis in children and teenagers. They can then work with children who have been identified as hearing impaired and offer advice to parents on how to deal with the problem.
For some children, diagnosis may entail the use of hearing aids, surgery, or, at the very least, a doctor’s examination to determine whether the child has any structural defects or ongoing medical issues that could be addressed. Because speech/language acquisition is heavily reliant on a person’s ability to hear the spoken word accurately, early detection of lifelong hearing problems is extremely valuable. Audiologists can provide early intervention and assist parents, schools, or special education teachers with strategies that will help a hearing impaired child achieve successful language acquisition and unrestricted learning opportunities.
An audiologist can also work as a freelance clinician, in hospitals, hearing aid clinics, or in a variety of research settings. Depending on the audiologist’s preferred work, the focus on various aspects of hearing may shift. Nonetheless, they all deal with one or more aspects of hearing loss, and either how to develop strategies or research that may indicate how to prevent or compensate for hearing impairment, or they work directly with patients to evaluate hearing and assist those who are deafened.
Although audiologists are not medical doctors, they play a vital role in the medical community. Even when infants are very young, audiologists may test their hearing if they are given certain antibiotics. Audiologists also assist doctors diagnosing or referring patients with potentially treatable impairments to them. Hearing loss can affect so many different aspects of life, at any stage of life, that the work of an audiologist is as much social as it is medical.