User:Audeditor 1/be bold

Who: audiologists individuals who hold _______ degrees in the united states

What: they evaluate, diagnosis, and treat pathologies of the auditory or vestibular pathways

When: They see patients of all ages, from the ever increasing compulsory newborn hearing screening at birth hospitals to geriatric or end-of-life care.

Where : there are X amount of audiologists in America. There are audiologist in many other countries as well with the United Kingdom and Australia being large contributors to the field.

Why : Decreased hearing sensitivity can make an individual less aware of the environment around them for example unable to hear fire alarms or hear a car coming while walking. Any amount of hearing loss from a mild degree to profound starts to impair communication, especially in challenging listening environments such as at a distance or in a crowd. Communication difficulties often result in listening fatigue, social isolation and withdrawal, and/or missing social cues. These difficulties have a great impact if they are not addressed or treated and pose great barriers to development and education in infants and children with hearing loss.

How: Audiologists use a wide array of tools to diagnose hearing or balance problems. They determine whether the hearing or balance impairment is temporary or permanent, the site of the lesion (outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, or within the central pathways), the degree of impairment (hearing is classified as mild, moderate, moderately-severe, severe, or profound), and the specific hearing and balance limitations (low-frequency, mid-frequency, or high-frequency hearing loss or specific etiology or triggers of balance disorders). Hearing acuity can be determined through subject and objective measures. A typical hearing examination may consist of a visual examination of the ear, ear canal, and eardrum; a measure of eardrum movement called tympanometry; a test of the acoustic reflex arc in both ears; a test of the outer hair cell function called otoacoustic emissions; and most commonly speech and pure tone audiometry. Vestibular evaluations are not always offered in an audiology practice as it can be considered a specialty in the field. Vestibular testing battery will differ by patient and is based on reported symptoms and severity, availability of equipment, or anatomical necessity (e.g. asymmetry in the vestibular, vision, or proprioception systems).