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Excerpt: How do audiologists decide which manufacturing brand they will use when dispensing hearing aids to patients? Based on ideology and methodology from the field of consumer behavior, this article offers insight into the decision-making processes used by clinical audiologists in today's field of practice. To begin, it is necessary to briefly review recent and relevant trends in this area.

Background: The past decade has yielded changes in the education and training of audiologists and technological advancements that have become widely available for clinical balance function testing. It is unclear if recent advancements in vestibular instrumentation or the transition to an AuD degree have affected audiologists’ vestibular clinical practice or opinions.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine predominant opinions and practices for vestibular assessment (VA) and vestibular rehabilitation (VR) over the past decade and between master’s- and AuD-level audiologists.Method: A 31-question survey was administered to audiologists via U.S. mail in 2003 (N = 7,500) and electronically in 2014 (N = 9,984) with a response rate of 12% and 10%, respectively.Results: There was an increase in the number of audiologists providing vestibular services in the past decade. Most respondents agreed that audiologists were the most qualified professionals to conduct VA. Less than half of the surveyed audiologists felt that graduate training was adequate for VA. AuD-level audiologists were more satisfied with graduate training and felt more comfortable performing VA compared to master’s-level audiologists. Few respondents agreed that audiologists were the most qualified professionals to conduct VR or that graduate training prepared them to conduct VR. The basic vestibular test battery was unchanged across surveys and included: calorics, smooth pursuit, saccades, search for spontaneous, positional, gaze and optokinetic nystagmus, Dix‐Hallpike, case history, and hearing evaluation. There was a trend toward greater use of air (versus water) calorics, videonystagmography (versus electronystagmography), and additional tests of vestibular and balance function.Conclusions: VA is a growing specialty area in the field of audiology. Better training opportunities are needed to increase audiologists’ knowledge and skills for providing vestibular services. The basic tests performed during VA have remained relatively unchanged over the past 10 yr.

Thesis (M. Communication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Communication Pathology)--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2001. / Summary in English and Afrikaans.

This study examined the business management practices employed by speech-language therapists and audiologists in private clinical settings. A sample of 199 speech-language therapists and audiologists in private practice, selected from the SASLHA database, served as respondents. The respondents were requested to complete and return a questionnaire concerning the use of various business management practices in their clinical settings and their attitudes towards the management of their businesses. Results of this study indicate that the majority of the respondents lacked knowledge and expertise in business management. It was evident that the private practitioners were aware of some of the management concepts, principles and practices included in the questionnaire, however, they failed to use this awareness in the management of their practices. The results consequently indicated a need amongst private practitioners for training and education in business management. The implications of the findings of the study, in terms of training and service delivery in the private sector, were identified along with suggestions for the improvement of private practitioners' business management skills. The data from the study as well as the respondents' opinions regarding future training proved useful in establishing a recommended curriculum for business management training that would be appropriate and relevant to speech-language therapy and audiology private practitioner's specific management needs. / Dissertation (M Communication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / unrestricted

Professional research project (Au.D.)--University of South Florida, 2001. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 63 pages. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: This is a retrospective study utilizing data complied over the past two years during the formative assessment process by the University of South Florida (USF) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) in the development of the new audiology clinical doctoral (Au.D.) program. Final adoption of the new certification standards in audiology was received in 1997 and several Au.D. programs have been implemented since that time. This study responds to the requirements of appropriate assessment and documentation of clinical skill acquisition across the academic and clinical training program. / The purpose of this review was to complete a qualitative analysis of the data gathered previously to determine indicators of clinical competency specific to the USF Au.D. program. This study focused on determining minimal knowledge and clinical skills that should be acquired at the end of the second and third years relative to competencies outlined in Standard IV-D: Evaluation and Standard IV-E: Treatment. Expectations relative to skills that audiology students should possess at designated points in the educational process are pertinent to developing effective tools for assessing clinical performance. Two focus group discussion sessions were held. / One group included USF audiology academic and clinical faculty and the other group was composed of external practicing audiologists who provide supervision for audiology students in extern assignments. Participation was on a voluntary basis and anonymity was maintained. A guided discussion format was followed to obtain information about their expectations for student clinical competency levels at the end of the second and third years of study. The analysis of the data set included a review and summary of comments and ratings completed by the participants. The summary provided a highlight of key points, trends, and similarities/differences in the ratings provided by the two groups. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Professional research project (Au.D.)--University of South Florida, 2002. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 35 pages. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: The employment of audiology assistants to relieve masters and doctoral level audiologists of routine tasks is a timely and controversial topic in our field. Berardino (2000) examined the roles of audiology assistants within Veteran's Administration (VA) Hospitals using an e-mail survey that was sent out to VA audiologists. The results of that survey suggested that the majority of VA audiologists were in favor of the participation of audiology assistants in the clinic to varying degrees. / The purpose of this survey was to determine the current attitudes of audiologists and otolaryngologists toward the role of audiology assistants in the hearing health care profession. The attitudes and opinions of otolaryngologists were of particular interest because this population had not been included in earlier surveys despite the fact that they often employ both audiologists and audiology assistants. The survey was e-mailed to a randomly selected group of audiologists and otolaryngologists. In addition to general opinion and demographic questions, participants were asked to rate specific audiology tasks on a six-point scale ranging from very appropriate to very inappropriate. / Results indicate that audiologists and otolaryngologists generally agree on which tasks are appropriate for audiology assistants; however, audiologists feel audiology assistants may be a threat to the profession of audiology whereas otolaryngologists do not. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of the study was to develop and examine a list of potential variables that may account for variability in the dispensing rates of four common hearing aid features. A total of 29 potential variables were identified and placed into the following categories: (1) characteristics of the audiologist, (2) characteristics of the hearing aids dispensed by the audiologist, (3) characteristics of the audiologist?s patient population, and (4) evidence-based practice grades of recommendation for each feature. The potentially associative variables then were examined using regression analyses from the responses of 257 audiologists to a dispensing practice survey. There was a direct relation between price and level of hearing aid technology with the frequency of dispensing product features. There was also a direct relation between the belief by the audiologist that a feature might benefit patients and the frequency of dispensing that feature. In general, the results suggested that personal differences among audiologists and the hearing aids audiologists choose to dispense are related more strongly to dispensing rates of product features than to differences in characteristics of the patient population served by audiologists. An additional finding indicated that evidence-based practice recommendations were inversely related to dispensing rates of product features. This finding, however, may not be the result of dispensing trends as much as hearing aid manufacturing trends.