audiologist
Basically an Audiologist is a health-care professional who is trained in diagnosing, treating and monitoring disorders of the auditory(listening) and vestibular system of the ear.
Audiologists are trained to treat hearing or balance problems. They provide hearing aids and map cochlear implants. They help in designing and implement personal hearing safety programs and also industrial hearing safety programs. They provide special fitting ear plugs and other hearing protection devices to help in preventing hearing loss. Many audiologists work as auditory scientists in a research capacity.
Audiologists are trained in physiology, psychophysics, hearing aids, cochlear implants, neurology, electrophysiology, acoustics, counseling and also in sign language. An Audiologist usually graduates in some of these the following qualifications (MSc, PhD, AuD,or ScD), depending the program, and country attended.
The terms “Audiology” and “Audiologist” in publications has been traced back from 1946. The creator of the term remains unknown, but Berger identified some possible originators as Willard B Hargrave, Stanley Nowak, Raymond Carhart, Mayer BA Schier or Norman Canfield.
The first university course for audiologists was at Northwestern University offered by Carhart in 1946.
Audiologists commonly work at a desk or at table in comfortable and clean surroundings. The job require attention to intense and detail concentration. Mostly audiologists work about 40 hours per week, which also include weekends or may be evenings to meet patients.
