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Audiologists and Hearing Instrument Specialists – What to Know About Your Hearing Health Advocates
Ed became an audioprosthologist because he wanted to be able to help people enjoy better hearing, which can ultimately improve their quality of life in ways they never thought possible. His approach to patient care is highly personalized and informative.
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If you’re just beginning your journey toward better hearing, you’ll soon meet the hearing health advocates that will guide you along the way. Throughout the process, different people will accompany you at different stages in your journey. Each new person will bring a different kind of expertise to make the process of finding the perfect hearing solution easy and empowering.
At Advanced Tech Hearing Aid Centers, the two most important people in that process are the audiologist and a hearing instrument specialist. Both are equipped with knowledge and experience – and both will play an important part in your journey.
But what’s the difference between an audiologist and a hearing instrument specialist? Here’s what you need to know about these experts and their role in your hearing health.
Role in Hearing Loss Diagnosis
Before you can begin considering your perfect hearing aid, you’ll take the all important first step – diagnosing your hearing loss. That starts with a hearing test, which identifies what kind of hearing loss you are experiencing and to what degree.
The person that runs this test can be either a hearing instrument specialist or an audiologist. For those that experience the most common type of hearing loss (hearing loss connected to aging) a hearing instrument specialist is qualified to diagnose you.
However, more complex types of hearing loss sometimes require the expertise of an audiologist. Audiologists have a masters or doctorate and are licensed by their state, and have a greater scope of knowledge regarding hearing and your health.
Once you have a diagnosis its often a hearing instrument specialist that will help you find the perfect hearing aid. Hearing instrument specialists are experts in hearing solutions like aids, and can provide the technical guidance in finding the perfect aid for you.
Hearing Health vs. Hearing Solutions
Hearing is a complex sense, and there are many reasons why someone may experience hearing loss. So complex is hearing loss and its causes that many years of study are required to understand it.
When it comes to the diagnosis and clinical recommendations for hearing loss, it’s more likely that you’ll work with an audiologist rather than a hearing instrument specialist. That’s because their training encompasses the complex inner-workings of your ear and the science of hearing. Audiologists are able to help you in many aspects of your hearing, including other treatments for hearing loss that require medical procedures.
Hearing instrument specialists have a more applied knowledge of hearing aids and the settings that make them work well. When it comes to finding and customizing your perfect aid, a hearing instrument specialist is an important advocate!
Hearing Instrument Specialist or an Audiologist?
Both hearing instrument specialists and audiologists have the expertise to help you along your journey toward better hearing. It really depends on what your needs are, and what expertise is needed to help.
By having both hearing instrument specialists and an audiologist available, you’ll have the resources needed to find the perfect solution for your hearing loss.
At Advanced Tech Hearing Aid Centers, we are proud to say that we have a combined 73+ years of experience. Our team can answer all of your questions about hearing loss and aids alike. Contact us to speak with us, and start your journey toward better hearing today!
