The word “Audiology” origins from a Latin word audīre, –to hear, and from a Greek word – λογία, – logia.
“It is a field of science and it explores hearing, balance, and related disorders.”
The use of the words “Audiology” and “Audiologist” in publications has been tracked back only to 1946.
In a biographical publication by Robert Galambos, Hallowell Davis is credited with inventing the term in the 1940s, stating that the then used term “auricular training” sounded like a method of teaching people how to wiggle their ears.
The first United States university course for audiologists was offered at Northwestern University, in 1946.
“Audiology was born of hearing aid dispensers to discuss the problem of hearing damage from World War II veterans.”
It is a highly worshiped profession and has been ranked by United States News and World Report as one of the best jobs in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
Audiologists
An audiologist is a highly trained health care professional, specializes in the prevention, assessment, and treatment of hearing disorders.
Audiologists are health care professionals who have a university degree and are licensed to specifically identify, evaluate, diagnose, and cure hearing and balance disorders, and identify medically related conditions that require a doctor’s opinion.
“Nowadays, a Doctor of Audiology degree is necessary to become a clinical audiologist. Audiologists are licensed in all fifty states of America.”
There is an estimate of 15,000 practicing audiology doctors in the United States. Audiologists work and operate in a multifarious of different practices, because of their substantial scope of practice, including private practice clinics, hospitals, military clinics, schools, universities, and industrial settings.
Audiologists help increase professional standards for audiology health care and are present on the boards of state and national governmental agencies.
Audiologists are also members of cochlear implant groups.
Audiologists Services
Audiologists are educated and licensed to be in charge of many areas of audiology health care including arranging the following services:
- Comprehensive audiology estimations including tests of hearing sensitivity, speech understanding, middle ear functioning, inner ear, and auditory nerve function.
- Diagnostic evaluations to identify balance problems Assess and diagnose hearing loss and vestibular (balance) problems.
- Auditory processing estimations.
- Planning, selecting, and fitting of hearing instruments and assistive listening devices.
- Planning, selecting, implementing, and monitoring of classroom amplification systems.
- Planning and implementing hearing preservation programs.
- Planning and implementing newly designed hearing screening programs.
- Authorize, design, and distribute hearing aids and other reinforcement and hearing assistance technologies.
- Execute an ear or hearing-related surgical overview.
- Give hearing rehabilitation training such as auditory training and listening skills development.
- Rehabilitation therapy for hearing problems which may include proposals to improve healed and unhealed hearing, speech, reading, and sign language.
- Rehabilitation programs for auditory processing problems.
- Rehabilitation for vestibular (balance) problems.
- “Cerumen” or earwax management.
- Assessment and control management of tinnitus (ringing in the ears).
- Patient and family advising related to diagnosis and healing.
- Development and implementation of hearing conservation programs to prevent hearing loss.
- Increasing awareness and prevention of the consumption of substances that have toxic effects on the ear.
- Exploration and development of new evaluation techniques and rehabilitation programs
Treatment
Audiologists must treat people of all ages and all types of hearing loss, including:
- Older people
- Adult people
- Teenagers
- Kids
- Infants
Almost all kinds of hearing losses are treatable by an audiologist. Most hearing problems that are caused by nerve damage can be treated by an audiologist with hearing aids, assistive listening devices, and hearing rehabilitation.
Source: Pixabay
Educational Requirements
“A doctoral degree in audiology is a must-have for all people who want to become audiologists.”
The graduate program usually demands four years to accomplish. Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree to qualify, ideally from a medicine-related scope.
The curriculum demanded by an audiology program usually involves:
- Genetics
- Anatomy
- Physiology
- Communication Development
- Pharmacology
- Diagnosis Courses
The most audiology programs involve an internship or other clinical practice program.
Additional Requirements
In addition, audiologists must be licensed in all states of America after the completion of their formal education.
“Licensing requirements are different in each state.”
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association provides a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology.
The American Board of Audiology may also give out certification. Although certification by either organization may not be demanded, in some fields, holding one or both certifications may meet the licensing requirements commanded by some countries.
Audiogram
Audiologists use audiograms when determining a patients’ condition to help them evaluate the severity of the hearing loss if any.
An audiogram is a graph of an individual’s hearing ability. There are some different styles of audiograms, but the most used is a standardized set of symbols for representing items on the flow.
“The audiogram reads up the frequency or a pitch over the top or horizontal axis and it reads up decibels or loudness down the side or vertical axis.”
Just like a piano’s keyboard, the pitches are small on the left side, and then slowly rise to higher pitches on the right side.
So, when the hearing test is finished, the individual should be capable to know how well they hear at small, medium, and high pitches.
If a hearing loss is recognized and there, they should also be capable to know which part of the hearing mechanism (the outside, middle or inner ear) is causing the problem.
These ranges have been grounded to help people figure out how many difficulties they can await from their hearing loss problem.
The typical ranges for an adult
- -10 dB to 25 dB = Normal range
- 26 dB to 40 dB = Mild hearing loss
- 41 dB to 55 dB = Medium hearing loss
- 56 dB to 70 dB = Reasonably Serious hearing loss
- 71 dB to 90 dB = Serious hearing loss
- Higher than 90 dB = Intense hearing loss
Because kids are not as suitable to respond as good as adult people, there are a variety of ranges for them.
A kid can hear the sound, but it can maybe not understand what they are supposed to do. Because of that, children are less likely to give correct results.
