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• Team Assessment
Audiologists may work within multi-disciplinary teams to diagnose and provide recommendations for children. The professionals included in a multi-disciplinary team are based largely on the setting in which the audiologist works. On a multi-disciplinary team that assesses children at risk for development disorders, an audiologist's role is to determine if hearing loss is a factor in the child's development. Cochlear implant teams might consist of otolaryngologists, audiologists, psychologists, social workers, radiologists, and speech language pathologists. A school team might include the special education teacher, psychologist, speech pathologist, audiologist, general education teacher and the school nurse.
• Hearing Services & Counseling
Audiologists are vitally concerned that every person, regardless of age, benefit from good hearing. Audiologists provide individual counseling to help those with hearing loss function more effectively in social, educational and occupational environments.
• Hearing Aids & Assistive Listening Devices
Audiologists provide complete hearing aid services to clients with hearing problems. Audiologists are also experts with assistive listening equipment and personal alerting devices. Audiologists provide education and training so that persons with hearing impairment can benefit from amplification and communication devices.
• Hearing Conservation Programs
Prolonged exposure to loud noise causes permanent hearing loss. Because audiologists are concerned with the prevention of hearing loss, they are often involved in implementing programs to protect the hearing of individuals who are exposed to noisy industrial and recreational situations.
• Hearing Research
Audiologists engage in a wide variety of research activities to develop new hearing assessment techniques and new rehabilitative technologies, particularly in the area of hearing aids. Research reports of audiologists can be found in the professional literature of medical and scientific journals. Audiologists write textbooks on hearing evaluation, hearing aids and the management of people with hearing loss. Audiologists help develop professional standards and are represented on the boards of national and government agencies.
Audiology Practice
History of Audiology
The profession of audiology had its origins in the 1920’s when audiometers were first designed for measuring hearing.
Since the 1940’s and 1950’s, the study of hearing, hearing loss, and audiologic rehabilitation has escalated and expanded.
• New tests of hearing have been developed including evaluations of functions of the outer ear, middle ear, cochlea, acoustic nerve, and related brain areas.
• Techniques using physiologic measurements that were in the research stages 20-30 years ago are now routine.
• Modern digital technology have dramatically influenced hearing aids. Hearing aids have changed from "boxes" in shirt pockets and "cords" to the ear to highly sophisticated "completely-in-the-ear canal" aids. Virtually any kind of hearing loss can be improved by a hearing aid.