Advice to future Audiologist

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HearingGuru

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Hello everyone. I have been an Audiologist for the past 8 years so I thought I'd give some of my advice. I have scanned the forum and I will try to address some of the questions that come up the most often. It's great to see so many of you so excited and passionate about the field.

Firstly, I know everyone wants to know about the job market, so i'll start with that first. There are jobs out there. I have been laid off twice, and each time I have had to relocate to find new work. The field is pretty small as I'm sure you are all well aware, but because of this I have had to move to other cities to find work. The first time I was searching for employment I was able to find another job about 1.5 hours away so I ended up moving to a suburb in between the two cities so I didn't have to move too far from friends and family. The second time I moved from my city about 600 miles away. I worked that job for a little over a year until I could find another job in my city. If you are ok with that than it should be no big deal. It can however be complicated for me now because I am now married with a family.

I saw a couple of question from someone about how often you have to sell things in the field. This is a very good question and I wish I would've asked this question myself. Expect to sale! It is apart of the business. Yes, I said business. People with hearing impairment need hearing aids, so of course you need to provide that for them. Unfortunately many practices today (private, ENT and especially hearing aid manufacturers) will push you to sell them because this is how they stay in business. Unlike optometry where they can make money solely from a visit alone, Audiologist CANNOT. You need someone to buy something from you to profit. This means you will find most jobs offering a base pay plus commissions. I will admit this can be good or bad. Bad because it can be stressful and out of your hands whether or not someone will buy a hearing aid from you. Some patients prefer to shop around for the best price. Some will buy an aid from you and return it meaning...no money for you. It can be good because, well the sky is the limit as to how much income you can generate. I made $109,000 at one time working for a hearing aid manufacturer. Excellent pay, but I hated my job with a passion. You often just do basic test, and than sale them the aid. The patient takes it and you never really hear from them again unless they have a problem. I hate working for hearing aid manufacturers for this very reason. It is also VERY sales driven, meaning you have so much pressure to sale, sale, sale. The money just wasn't worth it for me.

Also...please me aware that unfortunately, to many ENT's and hearing aid manufacturers, Audiologist are very easily replaceable. I encourage you all to look at job ads, especially on places like audiologyonline. MOST of the jobs will hire an Audiologist, OR a licensed hearing aid dispenser, at the same salary. I've often wondered why I didn't just get my license to dispense rather than pay for my masters in audiology. Sometimes a hearing aid dispenser will accept a job at a lower salary on purpose just so they will be hired over you. I have seen this many times. They are the biggest reason Audiologist have such low pay and not as many jobs. If something isn't done about this, the problem will only get worse. An ENT I worked for once thought it was "ridiculous" Audiologist were now switching to a doctorate degree because "why pay someone more money to do something that someone off the street with no education can do for half the price." I believe this is also why so many other health care professionals don't respect audiologist as they should, because someone without a degree can also do the job. Yes, it is true, the degree offers us a wealth of information about hearing loss and vestibular issues, but most ENT's and private practices will only want you to do a basic hearing test. If there is a loss, you give a hearing aid, if there is something more refer to an ENT. I feel that we are way over prepared for the job they will one day do. I got into Audiology because I thought it was more of a medical model, once I graduated I was disappointed that I felt more like a glorified hearing aid dealer at times :mad:.

Lastly, salary! I will say salary is ok. I only have my masters in Audiology by the way so to me, my salary was acceptable, but never would I get an AuD to only be paid $60,000! That is insane!!! I started off at $46,000 when I got into the field. I now make $58,000. Please be aware that salary does also depend on where you live. My salary is for an Audiologist in the midwest. Cost of living here is ok, so I get by, plus my husbands salary helps ALOT. Thus far with the Au.D being introduced I have not seen that big of an increase. It really does also depend on the job. I know some Audiologist who make more than me, and some less. I have not seen anyone here however that makes more than $65,000. I would say in the midwest the average is about $60,000. That's fine for a masters but not at all for four years of school. I know SLP's making more than some Audiologist and that is just totally unacceptable to me.

I would like to close by saying that there are many downsides to the field but I do enjoy it. I love making a difference in the lives of others, and that is why I decided to be come an Audiologist. I will be going back to school this fall to be a physicians assistant. While I love audiology PA's salary is excellent for only a two year degree and I have come to find i love what they do. I became close friends with one when working part time at a hospital once and I decided why not do this myself? While Audiology is great I do have many concerns about it's future. I do want to wish all of you good luck. I hope I didn't discourage you, these are just some of the issues I wish I would have known before I pursued the degree, and a four year degree is a BIG investment. Luckily, I only had to pay about half of what you all are paying now, I definitely wouldn't do it today if it was four years. I think the Ph.D is much more respected by all professionals and gives you more options and pay. Please let me know if you have more questions :D.

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Wow. Eye opening. Thank you for the much-needed information from a practicing Audiologist, HearingGuru.
 
Thanks so much for volunteering your perspective, HearingGuru!
 
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Thanks for this. I wish more professionals would give their insight. You mentioned your current salary as $58,000. Is that your base compensation? Or with commission included? The stuff mentioned with hearing aid sales pushing and HIS competition only further stresses the importance for advocacy and an attack on apathy in this field.
 
Thanks for this. I wish more professionals would give their insight. You mentioned your current salary as $58,000. Is that your base compensation? Or with commission included? The stuff mentioned with hearing aid sales pushing and HIS competition only further stresses the importance for advocacy and an attack on apathy in this field.

Agreed Dustbug, having to fight for jobs against HIS is completely unacceptable. Folks, this audiologist's post should be more of a wake-up call than a discouragement. This is NOT how our profession has to be. Her experience = the results of decades of apathy and very little advocacy within our field.
 
An ENT I worked for once thought it was "ridiculous" Audiologist were now switching to a doctorate degree because "why pay someone more money to do something that someone off the street with no education can do for half the price." I believe this is also why so many other health care professionals don't respect audiologist as they should, because someone without a degree can also do the job.

With two years of school I could become a PA and specialize in treating Ear, Nose, and Throat problems and for the most part do his job without the need for 4 years of med school and a residency. The same brash generalizations can be made for many, many professions. Lawyers once used to apprentice under a practicing lawyer without the need for school, CRNAs often lament the fact that someone "off the street" could be trained to do most of what they do within 6 months time. Someone without a degree can do just about any job with enough basic training/apprenticing. As for the matter of respect, I'd like to meet the health care professionals who openly disrespect you as an audiologist--many don't even know what it is we do exactly. Furthermore, browse the forums on SDN and you'll find just about EVERY health care professional complains of lack of respect--even the DOs get it from MDs and the MDs complain about lack of respect from patients. Every one feels disrespected at some point or another.
 
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I am also a practicing Audiologist and have posted on this forum a few times. Many of the "problems" noted by the HearingGuru are legitimate, however I have a feeling that the opinions are skewed by her personal experiences.

First of all the job-market is very good IF you are willing to relocate. The OP is correct about that. It is a small field and it can be difficult to get a GOOD (more on that later) job in a particular city. The demand is very high and will only continue to grow with today's aging population.

I have been an Audiologist for 10 years and have never practiced in a Hearing Aid Dispensery or ENT office and never will. Anyone looking for respect and to use the knowledge base an Au.D. obtains through school will avoid those types of jobs at all costs. Typically these types of jobs CAN be completed easily by a HIS (or maybe even a trained monkey with enough time and effort), and that is why an Audiologist is highly over-qualified for them. Now, not all ENT office are the same, as many use a colleague approach and are great places to work. Many, sadly simply use the Audios and HIS to complete on-demand audios and to fit HAs, similar to Beltone, Miracle-ear, etc. Typically the pay is bad, the hours are bad, and the respect level is low.

Of course HA sales are most likely going to be a big part of your job wherever you work (although there are many jobs that focus solely on other aspects of the field with no HA sales). There is a big difference between someone who "sells" hearing aids because that is the only service the clinic provides and an Audiologist who provides HAs to their patients who have been identified as hearing impaired as part of a general audiology clinic. For example in my clinic I spend approximately 20-30% of my time with HAs, 40-50% of my time with Balance patients, and 10-20% of my time with inpatients (newborns through adults). I also spend another 20% outside of my main job in Academia.

Only in settings such as ENTs (the bad ones), Beltone, etc. are you going to be put into a position that pushes sales over healthcare. If you choose to work ONLY as an HA dispenser, then you ARE no better than an HA dispenser. However if you choose to work in a practice that employs HA sales, Balance, Electrophysiology, Aural Rehab, Cochlear Implants, Industrial Hearing Conservative, Education/training of students, Academia, etc, I ensure you that you WILL use 4 years of education.The move from a Masters to an Au.D., in part is to allow are field to move beyond these tech type job settings into private or at the least independent practices in a model similar to Optometrists, Chiropractors, etc.

Since the implementation of the Au.D the average salary for Audiologists has risen 15,000-20,000 over the past 3 years. However of course only the Audiologist that have the Au.D. will get this new salary range. Not to mention that many Audiologist working in private Audiology practices are now making 75,000 - 100,000 dollars a year in successful practices. Audiologist that work for the Hearing Aid Companies as in-house Audiologists or field reps/trainers also frequently get paid in the 6 figure range. The salaries are increasing rapidly and will continue as long as new graduates and current Audiologists do not accept under any circumstances these sub 50,000 a year ENT, HA dispenser jobs. Do not take my word for it, go the ASHAs website and look up the most recent salary survey numbers. I for one would be absolutely ecstatic if all the ENTs, Beltones, etc would ONLY hire HISs (or train someone off the street for that matter) and they can have all the hearing screening they want. That would leave the real Audiology to us.

Finally the schooling has become very expensive. That is a fact. And at 4 years many students are coming out of school with 100,000 in student loans. That is a very bad thing for the field in general. The is a commonly held rule about student loans. A student should only borrow as much money as they will make their first year out of school. Most students I know (which is a lot as I also am adjunct academic faculty at my nearby school) are making 50,000-60,000 after completion of the 4th year. Obviously that means that you should not borrow anymore that 50,000 or 60,000 for school. If that requires going to an in-state school or choosing the school that offers you money over the flashy highly ranked programs than you should do it and not even think twice about it. The money in audiology is not great money. However is can be good money as long as you don't set yourself up for disaster with incredible student loans.

As a side note, PA is also an excellent field. There are many (CRNAs, NPs, Optometry, Pharmacy, etc.) that are great fields as well. IMO most of them are comparable to Audiology overall. Some make more money, some make less money, some work longer hours (weekends, nights), some work 9-5 M-F, some are more competitive to gain entrance. There are positives and negatives to all of them. Try and obtain as much info about any field prior to making a decision about a career path. Oh and also do not ever take any one person's opinion (including mine) as the gospel. Everyone's experiences are different and yours will be too. However I thought you guys might want to read a slightly different perspective than the OP.

PS. I also will be happy to answer any questions as you guys make your decisions.
 
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Thanks for the input, TennaciousD and HearingGuru. We needed professionals on here to give us some heads up about the reality of audiology.

AUDwannaBE, don't be discouraged. This is just something to be aware of. Some audiologists work for big hearing aid companies and no doubt you can get laid off there. Newport Audiology is a big one that I'm really familiar with. They show up to other companies to educate them about their company and so forth and honestly, they don't know a damn what they're talking about. (excuse my language!) So, we all here need to realize that when we complete our AuDs, we need to be very careful to avoid companies like these if we're passionate about audiology. TennaciousD made a clear point about that.
 
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Finally, some golden information from the professional to the student. I'm almost teary eyed! TennaciousD and HearingGuru, thank you for this. I say we find more professionals and direct them to this forum. We need unity and some real 'mentoring' in this profession.
 
I agree Dustbug. My students have trouble getting me off of my soapbox. I admit that when I went through school I felt like nobody would talk frankly about what salary expectations were, job settings, etc. As long as the new crop of students are well-versed on the field outside of the clinic (business side, salaries, job settings) then we can all come together and improve the field. Don't be discouraged though because in my opinion many of the changes have already begun and the new students rolling are more informed, more motivated, and more skilled then ever. I will be happy to provide any info through this forum to help. I am sure my students would love to have me focus some of my "mentoring" on others.
 
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Thanks for the input, TennaciousD and HearingGuru. We needed professionals on here to give us some heads up about the reality of audiology.

AUDwannaBE, don't be discouraged. This is just something to be aware of. Some audiologists work for big hearing aid companies and no doubt you can get laid off there. Newport Audiology is a big one that I'm really familiar with. They show up to other companies to educate them about their company and so forth and honestly, they don't know a damn what they're talking about. (excuse my language!) So, we all here need to realize that when we complete our AuDs, we need to be very careful to avoid companies like these if we're passionate about audiology. TennaciousD made a clear point about that.

True. I hope that someday there is something done about :smuggrin:! TennaciousD did bring up a good point, I don't plan on working for a HA manufacturer or ENT office, I really want to work for a pediatric hospital so hopefully I won't have to compete with dispensers...just you guys :).
 
Thank you for giving good insights, TennaciousD. I recently found out that I was admitted to an Audiology program. I also decided to do some more research on the field, Googled Future of Audiology, and came across this thread.
I am the least common Audiology student out there. I am an immigrant who married an American, I was stay at home mom for seven years, and I am economics major. In my country of origin I had several jobs in Administration, and I became tired of numbers.
I wanted to do something to help people. This is my main reason for going into Audiology, plus I need a skill set that this country values. I am less worried about the money aspect of Audiology, since I am happily married to a physician.
Dispensing hearing aids does not attract me the most. My fear is that the "economic" part of me could overshadow the "medical", helping people aspect of my venture. I would not like to embrace this approach.
My ideal job would be either to be employed by an education organization, hospital, or partner with another Audiologist to work reasonable hours helping people with their hearing (and yes, recommending them the best device for that purpose) Along with this, I do not intend to be totally lost for my three children (I want to be able to cook dinner for them).
Do you happen to know how many part-time opportunities are in the field? Am I in la-la land? Does every job has to be not only underpaid, but also time-consuming and draining (that what it seems to be from some of these posts)?
I am glad I will be able to keep the costs low (instate + hopefully no loans).
 
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I'll stop back by and throw my .2 in, but right now I'm too tired from a 11 hour shift at the VA and lots of add on patients, but there is a lot of truth to what has been posted here. The good news is it can change and it has to change for audiology to continue.


I'll be back another day to post my thoughts.
 
A lot of what was said above is true. Audiology doesn't pay great for 8-9 years worth of loans.

I've been in practice for less than 5 years. I've worked for ENT offices, for a university, for a large hospital, and now for the VA health system.

The university was my externship gig and it was great and the pay for externship was really good, but I did a lot of work for my pay. The university is nice if you are a professor because you then only have a teaching load and some research. If you are in the clinical side you will be expected to teach students and support the financial burden of the clinic with hearing aid sales while you see speech supervisors/staff just kicking back (this was my experience) as we had over 30 speech students each year and they just did diagnostics and treatments with no dysphagia testing/treatment. So Audiology was always running around like a chicken with its head cut off while speech seemed to be on permanent vacation. We saw mainly medicaid patients and the director was always on us to sell more hearing aids, which is tough to do when you have students running the testing and explaining results and doing the fittings. A very tough gig for an audiologist. A lot is expected of you for not great pay and not much support where I worked.

My first job I made 50k in the midwest with some hearing aid sales commission. The ENT was a jerk and I left after a few months.A lot of shady things went on in this office. The ENT and I clashed on a lot of things I felt were unethical. He was the stereotypical ENT you hear about in grad school. I would be very careful about working for an ENT.

My first hospital gig was fun. I lasted a little over 2 years there. I was separate from the ENT practice which had its pluses and minuses. I liked all the ENT's I worked with and they really respected my part of the team. I think it actually worked against me not being in their office because they held more clout with the hospital administration so when they requested something it happened, when I requested something it never happened and was ignored. I was part of the rehabilitation department with speech, PT, and OT. Not a good place to be. PT and OT get all the funding and speech and Audiology got only a small portion. We saw a lot of Medicaid patients and constantly had billing issues because our billing department was horrible. I more than doubled our private insurance hearing aid sales in the first 6 months I worked there and when I left they had a thriving audiology practice with tons of patients and many more coming in the doors. The reason I left was the management was horrible, the billing department constantly messed my charges up, and patients came down on me when there was a billing issue and the hospital basically left me to clean up other folks' messes. Not a fun time. I made almost 60k with good benefits and a nice compressed scheduled with 3 days off per week. Overall it was a good learning experience and I learned a lot about how independent I am and how good my skills in audiology were. It was also nice that the 2 years I worked there it was a not for profit so I had 2 years worth of payments on my loans and this counts towards my 10 years of loan repayment on my way to loan forgiveness.

I currently work for the VA system and I'm loving it! I received almost a 20k bump in pay just for going to the VA system. Step raises each year. I love working with veterans and hated working with medicaid patients. I don't have to sell hearing aids. I don't have sales quotas to meet. I see patients and get them what they need and do my counseling. I love it. The VA does have problems. I have way more patients than I can see in a day and have tons of walk-ins. I work over 40 hours most weeks and have stopped turning in comp time requests because it became an every single day event. I think the VA is the best place to work if you don't mind not seeing children. I loved working with children, but it's a lot easier testing the 90 year old cranky WWII veteran than it is testing the 2 years old patient with Downs Syndrome.

So a lot of what was said is correct. Audiology has tons of jobs if you are willing to move. You may move a few times before you find the job that is right for you. You do compete with hearing aid dealers and in my opinion they should be sunsetted and no more licenses given to dealers after X date. The problem is they have a huge board that has lots of money because hey they move a lot of hearing aids at huge markups. So I doubt this will ever happen unless Medicare and insurance companies say "no sorry an Audiologist is the clinician you must see for us to cover your hearing evaluation and your hearing aids". The pay for an 8-9 year degree is also not close to where it should be. We should all be making 6 figures during our careers. Many jobs top out around 75k for audiologists unless you work in the hearing aid industry or run your own private practice at which point you may make 50k one year and 150k the next year and not have good benefits.

So there are plenty of fields that require less schooling and pay the same in salary and benefits. I know because I was in nursing. The run of the mill bachelors in nursing (4 year degree) makes about 50k per year depending on location and shift and specialty. A nurse practitioner (Masters in nursing so 6 years of schooling) makes around 70-100k depending on specialty and the area. Jobs for both fields are everywhere and always in demand. Physician assistant (which the first poster is going back to school for) pays around 70-100k per year depending on specialty and area. Occupational therapy (6 years of schooling and a masters degree) makes around 60-90k per year.

Plenty of better paying professions out there. All in all students ask me all the time knowing what I know now if I could do it all over again would I be an audiologist? Nope. I would have been a nurse practitioner and if the VA offers to pay me my salary while I go to school and pay my schooling (which they have talked about doing) I will stop being an audiologist and become a nurse practitioner or Physician assistant.

The plus side of audiology is I am not on call (this is awful and I was on call on a couple jobs in healthcare), I have a set schedule with 3 day weekends every week, and my pay and benefits are amazing for our field. I do love what I do every day. I just wish it paid more, but the VA is possibly helping pay for my loans, or at the very least I have 6 more years before they are completely forgiven.
 
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Hi everybody,

So, I just read (most) everything that was posted here. I am currently a first year Au.D student. I actually had a really hard time making a decision about whether or not it would make sense for me to become an audiologist purely due to the amount of loans I would have to take out.
I finally decided to go for it when I checked out the loan repayment plans - I got the impression that it was totally do-able.

I will have to take 100,000$ for grad school. According to the payment plans, it looks like I will be repaying the loans back 17,000$ a year (or less) for 25 years (or 10 if I want).

So, my question is, whats the big deal? Given I make 60,000$ a year, wouldn't I have enough to live comfortably? Especially with a spouse?

I have been led to believe that I would be insane not to get my Au.D because "its such an honor to be a doctoral student, there's no way won't be able to repay [my] loans."

What do you guys think? Would you all sort of be honest in your knowledge about repaying loans and address any biases you may have? Because after reading this thread, I'm freaking out.

Thanks!
 
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Hi everybody,

So, I just read (most) everything that was posted here. I am currently a first year Au.D student. I actually had a really hard time making a decision about whether or not it would make sense for me to become an audiologist purely due to the amount of loans I would have to take out.
I finally decided to go for it when I checked out the loan repayment plans - I got the impression that it was totally do-able.

I will have to take 100,000$ for grad school. According to the payment plans, it looks like I will be repaying the loans back 17,000$ a year (or less) for 25 years (or 10 if I want).

So, my question is, whats the big deal? Given I make 60,000$ a year, wouldn't I have enough to live comfortably? Especially with a spouse?

I have been led to believe that I would be insane not to get my Au.D because "its such an honor to be a doctoral student, there's no way won't be able to repay [my] loans."

What do you guys think? Would you all sort of be honest in your knowledge about repaying loans and address any biases you may have? Because after reading this thread, I'm freaking out.

Thanks!

Where are you going to school that it would cost 100k for grad school?
 
Well, I'm out of state. My state didn't have an AuD program anywhere.
 
I have $105K in loans from undergrad and grad combined, and my monthly payments will be about $1100/month once the last of my grace periods expires in January. I'm sticking to the 10 year repayment plan. I make a little over $60K and will also likely make $8-20K in hearing aid bonuses per year and have no problem making my payments, even while paying half the mortgage, car payment, and other monthly expenses, with a bit left over for fun and savings. I can't say I'm rolling in the money, but I feel comfortable. However, my spouse makes more than I do, so our combined income allows us a comfortable lifestyle. I imagine things could get tight if you were single and not living with roommmates in terms of not being able to put much into savings. Lots of factors to consider, but I'm really glad I became an audiologist!

Hi everybody,

So, I just read (most) everything that was posted here. I am currently a first year Au.D student. I actually had a really hard time making a decision about whether or not it would make sense for me to become an audiologist purely due to the amount of loans I would have to take out.
I finally decided to go for it when I checked out the loan repayment plans - I got the impression that it was totally do-able.

I will have to take 100,000$ for grad school. According to the payment plans, it looks like I will be repaying the loans back 17,000$ a year (or less) for 25 years (or 10 if I want).

So, my question is, whats the big deal? Given I make 60,000$ a year, wouldn't I have enough to live comfortably? Especially with a spouse?

I have been led to believe that I would be insane not to get my Au.D because "its such an honor to be a doctoral student, there's no way won't be able to repay [my] loans."

What do you guys think? Would you all sort of be honest in your knowledge about repaying loans and address any biases you may have? Because after reading this thread, I'm freaking out.

Thanks!
 
Hello everyone. I have been an Audiologist for the past 8 years so I thought I'd give some of my advice. I have scanned the forum and I will try to address some of the questions that come up the most often. It's great to see so many of you so excited and passionate about the field.

Firstly, I know everyone wants to know about the job market, so i'll start with that first. There are jobs out there. I have been laid off twice, and each time I have had to relocate to find new work. The field is pretty small as I'm sure you are all well aware, but because of this I have had to move to other cities to find work. The first time I was searching for employment I was able to find another job about 1.5 hours away so I ended up moving to a suburb in between the two cities so I didn't have to move too far from friends and family. The second time I moved from my city about 600 miles away. I worked that job for a little over a year until I could find another job in my city. If you are ok with that than it should be no big deal. It can however be complicated for me now because I am now married with a family.

I saw a couple of question from someone about how often you have to sell things in the field. This is a very good question and I wish I would've asked this question myself. Expect to sale! It is apart of the business. Yes, I said business. People with hearing impairment need hearing aids, so of course you need to provide that for them. Unfortunately many practices today (private, ENT and especially hearing aid manufacturers) will push you to sell them because this is how they stay in business. Unlike optometry where they can make money solely from a visit alone, Audiologist CANNOT. You need someone to buy something from you to profit. This means you will find most jobs offering a base pay plus commissions. I will admit this can be good or bad. Bad because it can be stressful and out of your hands whether or not someone will buy a hearing aid from you. Some patients prefer to shop around for the best price. Some will buy an aid from you and return it meaning...no money for you. It can be good because, well the sky is the limit as to how much income you can generate. I made $109,000 at one time working for a hearing aid manufacturer. Excellent pay, but I hated my job with a passion. You often just do basic test, and than sale them the aid. The patient takes it and you never really hear from them again unless they have a problem. I hate working for hearing aid manufacturers for this very reason. It is also VERY sales driven, meaning you have so much pressure to sale, sale, sale. The money just wasn't worth it for me.

Also...please me aware that unfortunately, to many ENT's and hearing aid manufacturers, Audiologist are very easily replaceable. I encourage you all to look at job ads, especially on places like audiologyonline. MOST of the jobs will hire an Audiologist, OR a licensed hearing aid dispenser, at the same salary. I've often wondered why I didn't just get my license to dispense rather than pay for my masters in audiology. Sometimes a hearing aid dispenser will accept a job at a lower salary on purpose just so they will be hired over you. I have seen this many times. They are the biggest reason Audiologist have such low pay and not as many jobs. If something isn't done about this, the problem will only get worse. An ENT I worked for once thought it was "ridiculous" Audiologist were now switching to a doctorate degree because "why pay someone more money to do something that someone off the street with no education can do for half the price." I believe this is also why so many other health care professionals don't respect audiologist as they should, because someone without a degree can also do the job. Yes, it is true, the degree offers us a wealth of information about hearing loss and vestibular issues, but most ENT's and private practices will only want you to do a basic hearing test. If there is a loss, you give a hearing aid, if there is something more refer to an ENT. I feel that we are way over prepared for the job they will one day do. I got into Audiology because I thought it was more of a medical model, once I graduated I was disappointed that I felt more like a glorified hearing aid dealer at times :mad:.

Lastly, salary! I will say salary is ok. I only have my masters in Audiology by the way so to me, my salary was acceptable, but never would I get an AuD to only be paid $60,000! That is insane!!! I started off at $46,000 when I got into the field. I now make $58,000. Please be aware that salary does also depend on where you live. My salary is for an Audiologist in the midwest. Cost of living here is ok, so I get by, plus my husbands salary helps ALOT. Thus far with the Au.D being introduced I have not seen that big of an increase. It really does also depend on the job. I know some Audiologist who make more than me, and some less. I have not seen anyone here however that makes more than $65,000. I would say in the midwest the average is about $60,000. That's fine for a masters but not at all for four years of school. I know SLP's making more than some Audiologist and that is just totally unacceptable to me.

I would like to close by saying that there are many downsides to the field but I do enjoy it. I love making a difference in the lives of others, and that is why I decided to be come an Audiologist. I will be going back to school this fall to be a physicians assistant. While I love audiology PA's salary is excellent for only a two year degree and I have come to find i love what they do. I became close friends with one when working part time at a hospital once and I decided why not do this myself? While Audiology is great I do have many concerns about it's future. I do want to wish all of you good luck. I hope I didn't discourage you, these are just some of the issues I wish I would have known before I pursued the degree, and a four year degree is a BIG investment. Luckily, I only had to pay about half of what you all are paying now, I definitely wouldn't do it today if it was four years. I think the Ph.D is much more respected by all professionals and gives you more options and pay. Please let me know if you have more questions :D.


Hi Hearing Guru,
Thank you for your post. I am currently working as an audiologist in an ENT practice. I have been working here for 3 years now and I work closely with the ENT and I really enjoy it! I have been considering though for sometime to go back to school to become a physician assistant as well. Are you happy you made the decision to go back to school to become a PA? Do you enjoy it more than audiology? Do you work as a physician assistant to an ENT? Do you still feel like there is more job opportunity for a PA over audiology still? Any information you can provide would be very helpful! Thank you.
 
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