Why did you choose Audiology over speech?

[AUDwannaBE]

I am in a really tough place right now, trying to decide what career is better suited to me. Right now i'm leaning towards speech just because the ease of obtaining a job that would probably pay the same as that of an audiologist. That is my only reason. I intend on doing speech in the beginning but found myself more interested in Audiology as i learned more about it. I applied to both types of programs and was excepted for both. This friday I have a deposit due and I don't know which route to take!!!! I like Audiology but I have gotten to know a recent AuD grad who has told me somethings that have discouraged me. For one, she says that she is on her third job and she feels stressed because many of the jobs have quotas for hearing aid sales. That's her biggest gripe, and my biggest fear. my current job is in sales and I HATE HATE HATE it. It stresses me to no end and I am counting down the days to where I can hand in my two week notice (2 weeks to go ). My biggest fear is to be in this position again, but for the rest of my life.

She has also mentioned hearing aid dispensers being hired to do the job of an Audiologist and how this is affecting the jobs for Audiologist. After hearing this from her I did a search and noticed many jobs actually say they are willing to hire an audiologist or a hearing instrument specialist! there are far more jobs listed working for hearing aid companies that for hospitals and clinics .

My mom thinks I should just do what makes me happy, which of course would be becoming an Audiologist, but from what my friend is telling me I'm getting a little scared. This is just such a big decision that will affect me for the rest of my life and I want to make sure I make the right one.

My question to all of you is, why did YOU decide to pursue an AuD over speech? I'm hoping maybe this will help me sway more towards Audiology, my first love without fear.

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[rEliseMe]

I started as an SLP major in undergrad, but in my first intro class, we learned about the basic of each. The main thing that caught my eye was that audiology is much more technologically-based. I grew up around computers, so this was particularly pleasing to me.

With each class after that, I have grown more and more confident in my decision to go the audiology route. I value concrete concepts and finite data, and audiology provides that for me. Speech-Language Pathology is much more qualitative in its nature and requires much creativity and subjective decisions on the part of the therapist. This is something I could never do. Even in my classes, I dread the SLP days.

I had one professor last semester who was very particular about her test questions and yielded very little when we argued with her about this question or that question, even if we had evidence and reasoning. Then, that same professor would stress in her lecture, "Speech-Language Pathology is DYNAMIC and ever-changing. What you do for one client might not work for another, so you need to remain flexible."

That was the clincher. I will forever be Team Audiology!

That said, it's really your decision.

Also, not all audiologists are required to meet a hearing aid quota and I think that you could make a legitimate argument that quotas actually are a detriment to an audiologist's office.

I hesitate to say this because I don't have a citation, but we talked about a study in class which discussed one particular audiology office and how they were frustrated in their hearing aid return rate (people who ended up unsatisfied and returned their hearing aids before the trial time was up). They saw so much profit-loss because they weren't permanently selling anything. So finally, they took a look at their sales and decided to stop pushing hearing aids for patients who wouldn't get much benefit. Their sales actually went UP because people heard that that office would give a legitimate diagnostic evaluation and not be pushy about hearing aids. I found this fascinating and realistic. People don't like sales attitudes and they do NOT belong in medical offices (even though they exist, often unbeknown to clients/patients).

Hope that helps.

 

[Cochlear]

I know this is a big life decision you're making but seriously, stop worrying so much about meeting quotas! We already explained that this type of practice is only found in HA mills/chain stores. If you don't like sales, you don't have to be a part of it. What are the three places your friend has worked? My guess is they are HearUSA-type places. Guess what? Optometrists and other medical professionals face the same problems! How do you think a newly minted OD feels about doing eye exams in a Walmart or Costco? How about a new PharmD counting pills and answering questions about laxatives at a Walgreens?

AuDs have a broader scope of practice than HIS, so don't worry about them taking our jobs. They take the low-hanging fruit, HA pushing jobs and leave the legitimate hearing and vestibular rehabilitation jobs open for us. Also, keep in mind that HIS are generally managed by audiologists.

For me personally, audiology nicely implements technology and a legitimate medically relevant education. I also tend to be one of those who believes our scope of practice will continually expand as the years go on and the AuD phases out the masters. I legitimately believe that we'll see a day down the road where we are on equal footing as ODs in terms of limited prescriptive rights, salary and such. Go with audiology, go with what you love and don't let your one friend's sour experience ruin your own dreams.

If your friend isn't satisfied with what she's doing, then she needs to get proactive and find the type of work environment/speciality that suits her best or open her own practice.

 

[AUDwannaBE]

I know this is a big life decision you're making but seriously, stop worrying so much about meeting quotas! We already explained that this type of practice is only found in HA mills/chain stores. If you don't like sales, you don't have to be a part of it. What are the three places your friend has worked? My guess is they are HearUSA-type places. Guess what? Optometrists and other medical professionals face the same problems! How do you think a newly minted OD feels about doing eye exams in a Walmart or Costco? How about a new PharmD counting pills and answering questions about laxatives at a Walgreens?

AuDs have a broader scope of practice than HIS, so don't worry about them taking our jobs. They take the low-hanging fruit, HA pushing jobs and leave the legitimate hearing and vestibular rehabilitation jobs open for us. Also, keep in mind that HIS are generally managed by audiologists.

For me personally, audiology nicely implements technology and a legitimate medically relevant education. I also tend to be one of those who believes our scope of practice will continually expand as the years go on and the AuD phases out the masters. I legitimately believe that we'll see a day down the road where we are on equal footing as ODs in terms of limited prescriptive rights, salary and such. Go with audiology, go with what you love and don't let your one friend's sour experience ruin your own dreams.

If your friend isn't satisfied with what she's doing, then she needs to get proactive and find the type of work environment/speciality that suits her best or open her own practice.

LOL, can you tell I dread sales? Thanks for your patience with me, my parents always tell me I'm such a worry wart. I think I'm just feeling the pressure because the school needs my decision Friday and once it's made there's no turning back because my parents will be pissed if they waste $1000 on a deposit. Are you currently in an AuD school?

 

[AUDwannaBE]

I started as an SLP major in undergrad, but in my first intro class, we learned about the basic of each. The main thing that caught my eye was that audiology is much more technologically-based. I grew up around computers, so this was particularly pleasing to me.

With each class after that, I have grown more and more confident in my decision to go the audiology route. I value concrete concepts and finite data, and audiology provides that for me. Speech-Language Pathology is much more qualitative in its nature and requires much creativity and subjective decisions on the part of the therapist. This is something I could never do. Even in my classes, I dread the SLP days.

I had one professor last semester who was very particular about her test questions and yielded very little when we argued with her about this question or that question, even if we had evidence and reasoning. Then, that same professor would stress in her lecture, "Speech-Language Pathology is DYNAMIC and ever-changing. What you do for one client might not work for another, so you need to remain flexible."

That was the clincher. I will forever be Team Audiology!

That said, it's really your decision.

Also, not all audiologists are required to meet a hearing aid quota and I think that you could make a legitimate argument that quotas actually are a detriment to an audiologist's office.

I hesitate to say this because I don't have a citation, but we talked about a study in class which discussed one particular audiology office and how they were frustrated in their hearing aid return rate (people who ended up unsatisfied and returned their hearing aids before the trial time was up). They saw so much profit-loss because they weren't permanently selling anything. So finally, they took a look at their sales and decided to stop pushing hearing aids for patients who wouldn't get much benefit. Their sales actually went UP because people heard that that office would give a legitimate diagnostic evaluation and not be pushy about hearing aids. I found this fascinating and realistic. People don't like sales attitudes and they do NOT belong in medical offices (even though they exist, often unbeknown to clients/patients).

Hope that helps.

I can relate, wasn't phonetics the worst? Just thinking about it makes me want to jump off a bridge. I did enjoy some of the other SLP coursework, but I think phonetics is a large component of the SLP field and definitely the part I loathe the most .

 

[rEliseMe]

I can relate, wasn't phonetics the worst? Just thinking about it makes me want to jump off a bridge. I did enjoy some of the other SLP coursework, but I think phonetics is a large component of the SLP field and definitely the part I loathe the most .

I actually almost enjoyed phonetics, although I had quite a tough time with it. I have a dip in my hearing at ~2500Hz so I miss a lot of consonant information, especially in electronic medium. All of our tests were online and the professor would record sound bytes to be used for test questions... our job was to transcribe in IPA. I nearly went mad. Even if I knew what phoneme went with what sound, I had no way to tell for sure if what I was hearing was what everyone else would hear! So frustrating.

My worst class so far was Child Development. I had a first-year professor who was hired literally DAYS before the class started and didn't get a chance to read the textbook, which was even worse than she was (it's the Owens text). She would lecture in one way (60-100 slides per hour of lecture, each slide having 2-6 items) and then pull her test questions from the book. We had to interpret the question before we could figure out what it was asking! I tried speaking to the department chair but she's quite a tough cookie, so I ended up with an 89.6% that she refused to round up (even after I begged for an extra credit assignment to compensate). I decided not to take it to the dean because I don't want to be "that student."

I'm so glad that class is over with. If by some cruel joke of fate, I was told I had to take it again... I would drop out of school.

 

[cidanu]

I'm so glad that class is over with. If by some cruel joke of fate, I was told I had to take it again... I would drop out of school.

uh-oh..... many grad programs do include a class called "acoustic phonetics." i am taking it right now. it is like a repeat of the phonetics class i took as a linguistics major, but without the auditory transcription quizzes or anatomy stuff and more of the acoustics part. so even if you do have to take it, you probably won't be graded on your auditory reception abilities/skills!

 

[rEliseMe]

uh-oh..... many grad programs do include a class called "acoustic phonetics." i am taking it right now. it is like a repeat of the phonetics class i took as a linguistics major, but without the auditory transcription quizzes or anatomy stuff and more of the acoustics part. so even if you do have to take it, you probably won't be graded on your auditory reception abilities/skills!

Oh, I was talking about Child Development, and I really only meant if I had to take that class from the same professor. If I had to suffer through such awful teaching again with an awful textbook for a class I care nothing about tailored to the 36 SLP majors without even so much as a bone for the 2 AUD majors. If it wouldn't affect my reputation, I would seriously petition the dean to do something about the blatant bias towards SLP in every class I've ever taken at ISU. It's ridiculous.

Phonetics, as I described, was very frustrating for me but it grew on me. I enjoy psychoacoustics, so I took it from that perspective instead of the perspective of production. Also, I suspect that if/when I take that course in grad school, I will confront the professor and let him/her know that I have trouble hearing that kind of stuff and see what type of compensatory strategy we can do. I'm a hard worker, but there's only so much working hard can do for you when it comes down to whether or not you're actually capable of hearing it!

 

[eardocsavvy]

I chose audiology for a number of reasons. I first entered college wanting to become a Dermatologist. I was in a similar major that would allow me to be pre-med. I shadowed a Dermatologist and knew immediately that it was not for me. I had no idea what I wanted to do so I stayed in that major and looked at all of my options. I then found out about speech and audiology. My first speech class was boring and did not interest me the way I thought it would. I then took my first audiology class about 2 years into the program. I immediately loved the science behind it, it actually peaked my interest. Audiology is full of technology and it is a fairly new field which allows for growth. Audiology has a long way to go to gain independence and be seen as a doctorate profession. Audiology changes so rapidly that it is always exciting. Right now I work as an audiology tech at a hospital. I took a year off from undergraduate to gain a little more experience and to learn more about myself. I am so glad I took this year off, it not only allowed me to meet my mentor in the field but it has also allowed me to say 100% that audiology is what I want to do. Audiology is a small field and it may seem big but its not. The audiologist I work with does not "sell" hearing aids, she makes referrals and treats the hearing loss. If you are scared of "selling" aids then dont go into a private practice. Simple as that. There are so many other avenues you can go into. Hospitals are always needing audiologists, you dont sell aids there. The military is another strong force in employment. There you would be screening hearing, fitting aids, doing vestib evals ect... You could also work for a hearing aid company as tech support or a fitting specialist. Companies also hire reps (you arent meeting a "quota", you are just advertising that company). You could work with a non-profit organization. You could work hand in hand with research audiologists as a staff audiologist. The bottom line is dont be discouraged just because all you see right now is the "selling" side of the profession. Audiology has a long way to go and if you want to grow with that profession that choose audiology, if not then think about it and do what makes you happy. Speech is different in so many ways, remember that. If your heart lies with audiology then speech probably isnt where you want to be.

Hope this helps!

 

[eardocsavvy]

I can relate, wasn't phonetics the worst? Just thinking about it makes me want to jump off a bridge. I did enjoy some of the other SLP coursework, but I think phonetics is a large component of the SLP field and definitely the part I loathe the most .

No linguistics was the worst!! I dreaded that class... ugh. I get shivers just thinking about it..


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[AUDwannaBE]

I chose audiology for a number of reasons. I first entered college wanting to become a Dermatologist. I was in a similar major that would allow me to be pre-med. I shadowed a Dermatologist and knew immediately that it was not for me. I had no idea what I wanted to do so I stayed in that major and looked at all of my options. I then found out about speech and audiology. My first speech class was boring and did not interest me the way I thought it would. I then took my first audiology class about 2 years into the program. I immediately loved the science behind it, it actually peaked my interest. Audiology is full of technology and it is a fairly new field which allows for growth. Audiology has a long way to go to gain independence and be seen as a doctorate profession. Audiology changes so rapidly that it is always exciting. Right now I work as an audiology tech at a hospital. I took a year off from undergraduate to gain a little more experience and to learn more about myself. I am so glad I took this year off, it not only allowed me to meet my mentor in the field but it has also allowed me to say 100% that audiology is what I want to do. Audiology is a small field and it may seem big but its not. The audiologist I work with does not "sell" hearing aids, she makes referrals and treats the hearing loss. If you are scared of "selling" aids then dont go into a private practice. Simple as that. There are so many other avenues you can go into. Hospitals are always needing audiologists, you dont sell aids there. The military is another strong force in employment. There you would be screening hearing, fitting aids, doing vestib evals ect... You could also work for a hearing aid company as tech support or a fitting specialist. Companies also hire reps (you arent meeting a "quota", you are just advertising that company). You could work with a non-profit organization. You could work hand in hand with research audiologists as a staff audiologist. The bottom line is dont be discouraged just because all you see right now is the "selling" side of the profession. Audiology has a long way to go and if you want to grow with that profession that choose audiology, if not then think about it and do what makes you happy. Speech is different in so many ways, remember that. If your heart lies with audiology then speech probably isnt where you want to be.

Hope this helps!

WOW! I cannot thank you enough for your response, it's very encouraging!! Everything you said is also exactly why I was drawn to Audiology .

 

[SoCalAud]

AUDwannabe, go with the audiology! If you're tech savvy, this is a great field for you. I know this is a very important decision for you right now, but honestly, do what makes you feel 100% happy. Your mom's right...