Graduation Year

2002

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Au.D.

Degree Granting Department

Audiology

Major Professor

Jennifer J. Lister, Ph.D. Chair

Committee Member

Theresa Hnath-Chisolm, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Robert F. Zelski, Au.D.

Committee Member

John T. Berardino, Au.D.

Keywords

Audiology, Audiology Assistants/Technicians, Support Personnel, Otolaryngology, ENT

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.

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