Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists

Audiologists and speech-language pathologists diagnose, evaluate and treat human communication disorders including hearing, speech, language and voice disorders. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists are employed in hospitals, community and public health centers, extended care facilities, day clinics, rehabilitation centers and educational institutions, or may work in private practice.

Example Titles

audiologist
certified audiologist
clinical audiologist
educational audiologist
research audiologist
speech therapist
speech-language clinician
speech-language pathologist



Main duties

Audiologists perform some or all of the following duties:

• Administer audiometric tests and examinations to diagnose and evaluate the degree and type of patients' hearing impairment

• Plan and implement habilitation/rehabilitation programs for patients, including selection, fitting and adjustment of hearing aid devices, teaching speech (lip) reading and providing counseling

• Establish personalized care plans working as a member of an interdisciplinary team

• Conduct research related to hearing

• May instruct students and other health care personnel.

Speech-language pathologists perform some or all of the following duties:

• Administer tests and examinations and observe patients to diagnose and evaluate speech, voice, resonance, language, cognitive linguistic and swallowing disorders

• Plan and implement remedial programs to correct speech, language and voice disorders

• Establish group and personalized care plans working as a member of an interdisciplinary team

• Conduct research on speech and other communication disorders and on the development and design of diagnostic procedures and devices

• May instruct students and other health care personnel.

Employment requirements

• Audiologists require a master's degree in audio logy.

• Speech-language pathologists require a master's degree in speech-language pathology.

• Registration with a regulatory body may be required for audiologists and speech-language pathologists

• In some jurisdictions, audiologists may be required to obtain a separate license to dispense