Being An Audiologist – A Career Choice

audiologist

An audiologist is a valuable member of our society as they help people who have hearing challenges. They also help people who have problems with their balance or with ear problems as well. These problems could be the result of traumas sustained at the time of birth, genetic defects and abnormalities, viral infections, prolonged exposure to loud noise, medications taken by the patient or even due to age.  This is a career that is rewarding but at the same time it is very challenging as well as it involves a lot of stress. Here are some pros and cons on being an audiologist.

  • An audiologist helps those in need. They use computers and audiometers in order to gauge the hearing ability of the person and based on the hearing needs they design treatments to help them. The testing equipment’s also check on the ability of the person to distinguish various sounds and to diagnose as well as evaluate problems with the balance. Sometimes, they also need to teach the family members as well as the patient how to use sign language or even to read lips. When they help people who have such challenges they feel uplifted themselves as they feel they have really done a service to humanity. This is one of the main reasons why people choose to be audiologists. Those audiologists who work with school going children and make them feel more normal get a huge feeling of satisfaction.
  • Audiologists will always be needed and this occupation is estimated will increase by 34% by 2022. The rate of growth is more than normal and this means that more and more people will need professional help of audiologists.
  • Audiologists earn a very high salary compared with other professions.
  • However, an audiologist may get frustrated at times especially if they are unable to pinpoint the cause of the hearing difficulties of the person. Sometimes, in spite of all the modern tools and techniques used, they still are unable to determine the exact level of the person’s disability and they therefore cannot administer the appropriate treatment. Sometimes, the treatment that is chosen by the audiologist does not work in the way they hoped for and they may need to go in for alternative treatments to assist the patient.
  • Audiologists need to work full time and sometimes they also need to work on weekends or even beyond their normal hours of working to help patients. Sometimes these take up work on contract basis and so a lot of their time also goes in travelling between different facilities.
  • An audiologist requires a great deal of education. In fact, they require a doctor’s degree called Aid or doctoral degree in audiology. This degree takes 4 years and before prior to which is the undergraduate degree which needs to be obtained which is a 4 year’s course. After these 8 years of study, audiologists need to get a state license or they may opt to take a certificate of clinical competency which is given for the field of Audiology.
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Audiologists need to have a lot of patience as they need to work at times with patients who are geriatric and are uncooperative or patients who are frustrated at their situation and take out their pent up anger and frustration on the audiologist. This is a field where continuous study is required to keep in touch with the new technologies and trends in an audiologists field and to know of new methods of testing as this is a field that is constantly developing.

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