What is an Audiologist?
An audiologist is a doctor who checks your hearing and balance and treats hearing issues such as ringing in the ears.
Audiologists generally work with patients of all ages, but may focus on children, older people, balance patients, individuals in need of hearing implants or hearing aids, those with ringing in the ears, or research areas such as the way the brain helps to hear.
Audiologists have a Masters or Doctor of Audiology degree and must be licensed by the State of Michigan to see patients. They typically work in health care facilities such as hearing clinics, doctor’s offices or hospitals. To help patients, they work with other specialists such as ear, nose & throat physicians, speech and language therapists and others.
The study of audiology can be traced to the early 20th century; however, it did not become a career until the 1940s. Since the beginning, it has focused on the range of hearing and the ways that hearing loss changes communication. Scientific advances have made it possible for audiologists to treat people of all ages, including babies, and to help those with hearing and speech problems.