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Are these hearing aids going to whistle?
...going to be really big?
...going to make me look old?
My friend spent thousands of dollars on hearing aids and they never work!
I'm not going to have to use one of those horns, am I?
Although patients are often concerned about hearing aids, many of these obstacles have
been addressed by advances in hearing care and technology throughout the history of our
profession.
Audiology has its roots in professions such as otology, speech language pathology, and
psychology.
From these roots, doctors of audiology have become the most qualified professionals to
evaluate and treat disorders of hearing and balance.
Though audiology as we know it began to take shape in the ideas of C. C. Bunch in the 1930s,
it was under Raymond Carhart in the 1940s that the profession began to bloom.
We've been researching hearing, electronics, and rehabilitation in the field of hearing
healthcare since World War II,
[artillery sound effects]
but it has been less than three-quarters of a century in which audiology has begun to
take shape.
Audiologists have worked together over the last 70 years to create the most appropriate
battery of tests to accurately diagnose disorders of the auditory system.
Such tests as otoscopy, tympanometry, behavioral testing, real-ear measures, otoacoustic emissions,
and the auditory brainstem response provide the best possible care for patients.
As audiologists, we understand the value of hearing and communication as it applies to
our patients' lives.
Since the 1940s, the field of audiology has worked hard to develop new techniques to fit
hearing aids, collaborate with other professionals, and create effective referral systems to ensure
best practices and individual patient care.
After all, no two ears are the same!
[Jonathan Coulton's "The World Belongs to You" plays]