What is the difference between audiologists and hearing aid dispensers?
The definition of audiology typically means the planning, directing, supervising, and conducting of habilitative or rehabilitative counseling programs for individuals or groups of individuals who have been diagnosed or are suspected of having disorders of hearing; any service in audiology, including prevention, identification, evaluation, consultation, habilitation or rehabilitation, instruction and research; participating in hearing conservation, hearing aid and assistive listening device evaluation, selection, preparation, dispensing, and orientation and fabricating ear molds. Audiologists are uniquely qualified and trained to identify a wide variety of pathology and underlying medical conditions of the hearing and balance systems and to refer these cases for appropriate medical or surgical treatment. Hearing aid dealers, or “dispensers”, practice in dealing in or fitting of hearing aids and the measurement and testing of human hearing by means of an audiometer or by any other means
Audiologists are health care professionals with a minimum level of education of a master’s degree. They are certified by the American Speech Language Hearing Association. The letters CCC (Certificate of Clinical Competence) follow the names of qualified audiologists and the CCC-A indicates certification in the fields of audiology. In contrast, hearing aid dispensers are not required to have a college degree. They have some training in the measurement and interpretation of hearing tests and are licensed by their State to sell and service hearing aids. Some dispensers do receive certification from the National Board for Certification of Hearing Instrument Sciences, indicated by the letters BC-HIS. In order to be certified, they must attend continuing education courses and successfully pass a national examination.
