Haearing aid dispenser vs audiologist

[hersheyj]

Hi I have been interested in becoming an audiologist for a while. I applied to one program and did not get in. I have my BS in communication disorders. I am thinking about applying again but I have been reading that audiologist are not in demand as much because companies seek out hearing aid dispensers because they can do the work for cheaper. My friend who is an SLP also told me the same thing. I think audiology is a great field but to spend another 4 years in school I just hope I can find employment when I finish the program. What do you guys think?

ETA: Forgive my spelling. I spelled the title wrong.

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[AUDball2012]

First things first...audiology is a high demand job. I am a 4th year and currently looking at places to apply and Im having a very hard time because there are so many places to apply to, Im not sure where to start.

Second, being a GOOD hearing aid dispenser is a perfectly respectable career (I do realize that there are AuDers out there that disagree with me, but I think they fill a certain niche).

But there are some MAJOR differences. The first being that dispensers can only do hearing tests for the sake of fitting hearing devices. AuDs do hearing tests to determine pathology and then fit hearing aids if they are appropriate. We also do large amounts of balance testing now. We also fill the spot of intraoperative monitors, one hand of the diagnostics for Auditory Processing Disorders and Menieres disease (if you do ECochG). Yes we fit hearing aids but we are more on the end of diagnostics. We look for something else on the audio than what hearing aid to fit...we are looking for what could be the cause of the hearing loss and should we refer for medical treatment prior to fitting. Then you cant discount all the pediatric work we do--we do newborn hearing testing, testing before and after PE tubes, and hearing testing for schools. We also do cochlear implant programming.

So it is really a matter of preference. Do you want to be involved in only the technology end of things or are you more interested in the diagnostic end of things? Dispensers only work with a small subset of who AuDs work with...so it really is just a matter of which one you want to do. Also, if you decide you want to pursue being a dispenser, just know that you can always go back and do audiology if you want to do more.

 

[smswieczorek]

In addition to AUDball2012's post, you should consider applying to more than one school. There are a fair number of students out there looking into AuD programs, so I wouldn't put my eggs all in one basket. You may not have gotten in for many different reasons, but one of the reasons could be that the school you applied to had a large number of applicants and you might not have stuck out enough. Many AuD programs accept less than 10 students each year and others take maybe 15. There is a wide variety in the numbers at each school. Do some more research on programs and find more than one that interests you.

I originally thought that I wanted to do audiology for hearing aids and hearing tests, but I've learned there is so much more to the field than just those two things. I really enjoy intra-operative monitoring, cochlear implant evaluations/activations/programming/counseling, and vestibular evaluations/rehabilitation. I love having such a wide variety of things that I will be able to do as an audiologist.

Audiology won Best Career in 2009 from US News and World Report, so I wouldn't think it would be a low demand job.

http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2008/12/11/best-careers-2009-audiologist