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• Cochlear implants are increasingly common and successful.
Today, audiologists and the practice of audiology have widespread visibility. Audiology has a presence in public schools, health care centers, private practices, nursing homes, community agencies, the military, hospitals, colleges and universities, hearing aid dispensing centers, hearing and speech centers. They test hearing and listening ability; they fit hearing aids and assistive listening devices; they provide training and rehabilitation programs for individuals with hearing and listening disorders; they participate on health care and educational teams to plan and provide the most appropriate services.
Information about the audiology profession was obtained from the American Academy of Audiology website: http://www.audiology.org.
Audiology Training and Education
Audiologists working in the field may have a master’s degree (M.S), an audiology clinical doctorate (Au.D.), or a doctorate (Ph.D.). In order to practice clinically, an audiologist must maintain clinical certification (CCC-
A) through ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association), the national organization. In most states, audiologists also must comply with state licensure standards to practice. The current entry level clinical degree is the audiology doctorate (AuD). The AuD graduate degree typically requires 3 years of didactic coursework in an accredited university program, as well as 12 months of a full-time clinical externship with a total of 1800 supervised clinical hours. Finally, graduates must pass a national board certification exam.
Professional Organizations for Audiologists
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 123,000 members and affiliates who are speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists in the United States and internationally.
The American Academy of Audiology is the world's largest professional organization of, by and for audiologists. The membership of more than 10,000 audiologists join together to provide the highest quality of hearing healthcare service to children and adults described by our national slogan "Caring for America's Hearing." The American Academy of Audiology promotes quality hearing and balance care by advancing the profession of audiology through leadership, advocacy, education, public awareness and support of research.
What Does an Audiogram Show?
The audiogram is a plot of a person’s hearing thresholds. Across the top of the audiogram is the pitch of the tones, from low to high pitch, plotted in frequency from 250 to 8000 Hertz (Hz). The level in decibels (dB) is plotted down the side. The normal range of hearing is from 0 to 20 decibels hearing level (dBHL).