What is an Audiologist?

Hearing science is the science that studies the physiology and pathology of hearing. It gradually formed in the 20th century, and developed rapidly after the discovery of the cochlear bioelectric phenomenon in 1930. Experimental studies of auditory physiology and pathology have elucidated the physiological processes of hearing and the pathological mechanisms of hearing disorders, and developed clinical audiometry techniques (from main observation to guest observation). The main research contents are as follows: (1) Audiometry technology, including the formulation of national standards of hearing level zero and standardized and standardized basic clinical audiometry technical procedures, and research on sophisticated and perfect audiometry instruments. (2) Hearing protection, such as methods to prevent diseases that can cause hearing impairment, develop national standards for noise tolerance. (3) Hearing reconstruction, focusing on non-drug and surgical measures to restore or reconstruct hearing. ^[1]

Audiology

The main task of clinical audiology is to use scientific methods, advanced equipment and methods to provide clinical testing for hearing impaired patients, fitting of hearing aids, analysis and diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation education, prevention, etc. to improve the hearing and quality of life of patients.

Hearing rehabilitation is the treatment of ear diseases by medical methods including otology, drugs, and surgery, and it is also a comprehensive application involving the above multidisciplinary. As far as the world's medical level is concerned, for conductive deafness and some mixed deafness, ear surgery is applied. Partial hearing improvement can be obtained. But for the sensorineural deafness, the clinical treatment effect is not very satisfactory, especially for a long time. Some deaf patients are reluctant to undergo surgery and drug treatment. In the case of hearing, select a suitable hearing aid to improve hearing, (a few patients with extremely deaf can consider installing an electronic cochlea), and conduct language training to achieve the purpose of normal communication.

This discipline is a young and ancient marginal subject formed by multi-disciplinary interdisciplinary research. It is a science that studies human hearing function and rehabilitation of hearing impairment under physiological and pathological conditions. , General audiology, young children's audiology, professional audiology, hearing examination.

Basic acoustics is the study of auditory acoustics.

General audiology can be divided into two major categories of auditory physiology and auditory pathology, mainly to explore the physiological mechanism of hearing and pathological changes.

Children's audiology is devoted to children's hearing physiology and children's hearing pathology. Because children's physiology and pathology are different from those of adults, a special discussion is put forward.

Occupational audiology explores occupational damage to hearing.

Hearing tests are techniques and instruments used to check hearing, and they are divided into young children's hearing tests and general hearing tests because of differences between young children and adults.

The major of audiology is to adapt to 60 million in China

Audiology Education and Practice

Audiology is a relatively new and rapidly developing discipline in China. Over the past 30 years, audiological infrastructure has evolved. Professor Deng Yuancheng opened the first domestic hearing aid clinic in the outpatient clinic of Tongren Hospital in January 1979 (responsible by the Beijing Hearing Rehabilitation Room), and established the Chinese Deaf Children's Speech Rehabilitation Center in the eastern suburbs in 1983 (renamed Chinese deaf child in 1986 Rehabilitation Research Center, chaired by Professor Gao Chenghua in 1990). Professor Jin Jilin officially opened a hearing clinic at the First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang in 1982, using behavioral audiometry to test hearing aids for deaf children. Since then, Shanghai, Guizhou, Shanxi, Sichuan and other places have also opened audiology clinics.

The first formal audiology course in China was the Sino-Australian Audiology Program jointly organized by the Capital Medical University of China and Macquarie University in Australia. Most of the first 14 students came from clinicians. Eight of them were sent to Australia for clinical practice training. So far, 1,000 people have participated in similar training programs, of which 65 people can undergo cochlear implant surgery.

Today in China, three universities offer bachelor's degrees in audiology. In 1999, the Capital Medical University in Beijing established the audiology direction of biomedical engineering for the first time, producing 6 to 8 graduates each year. In 2002, Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hangzhou established an undergraduate course in audiology. The course starts with 30 students per year. In 2004, the East China Normal University in Shanghai established a special education major. West China Medical University and Wenzhou Medical College have also provided audiology courses to otolaryngologists.

Several other institutions offer diplomas in audiology. For example, Beijing Union University offers three-year courses, and the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at Nanjing Institute of Speech and Technology offers several audiology courses.

China is at a stage of extreme shortage of professionals capable of providing high-quality hearing services. 10,000 hearing health professionals of different levels provide services to 1.37 billion people (1: 137000). Compared with the United States (1: 9000), the Chinese expert in audiology is in a state of extreme scarcity. The United States has 13,000 full-time audiologists, thousands of hearing aid dealers, and serves 314 million people.

In addition to the shortage of professionals, there is also a lack of funding from the central government, as the Ministry of Education does not consider audiology or hearing science to be a major in universities. Therefore, no designated student share or government funds are allocated to audiology education. Universities need to squeeze their share from other education courses to build audiology courses. Therefore, many audiology courses rely on funds donated abroad and financial assistance to the disabled. Due to lack of funding, some courses have been closed, such as the master's degree program of otolaryngologist organized by West China Medical University and Dalhousie University of Canada.

Another lack of reason is that many graduates of audiology are otolaryngologists, whose audiology is only a small part of the medical practice course. Professional turnover is high, and some graduates no longer work in audiology after graduation. This lack is usually compensated by short-term training courses organized by hearing aid / cochlear implant companies. In addition, some universities (such as First Medical, West China Medical University), professional organizations (such as hearing associations), and non-profit organizations (such as Chinese deaf Pediatric Rehabilitation Research Center, Yinghua Fisherman Foundation) will also hold short courses. It is usually 2 to 5 days in the short term and several months in the long term.

Audiology Education in China

Since audiology is not considered a medical specialty in China, the scope of work is not clearly defined. The range of services that a hearing specialist can provide depends largely on the level of individual training. The work of an otolaryngologist usually involves electrophysiological and vestibular function tests. Hearing aid dealers mostly perform pure tone hearing threshold tests, including air conduction, bone conduction, comfort threshold and discomfort threshold.

In 2010, China launched a hearing aid dealer's grade test for hearing aid dealers, which is divided into three levels, ranging from low to high levels: four, three, and two, defining the knowledge, skills, and ability requirements of hearing aid fitters. . Participants must pass both written and practical exams and meet a range of requirements.

As this qualification system is relatively new, participants are voluntarily registered. In Beijing, less than 200 dealers have obtained different levels of qualification. In addition, no certificate is required for audiology services in China. Most people who provide hearing aid services have limited training and no uniform qualifications. ^[3]