Meet the Hearing Professionals and Practice Team Who Can Help You Regain Your Hearing
What Is an Audiologist, and What Do They Do?
Highly qualified audiologists, like the members of our team, work with people of all ages suffering from hearing loss, afflictions like tinnitus, and even disorders caused by the parts of the ear that assist with balance. Becoming a private audiologist of the calibre you’ll find at our ear clinics requires an exceptional degree of professional competence, great communication skills, empathy and understanding.
Most audiologists attend university to complete a 3-year NHS Practitioner Training Programme (in audiology), a BSc Honours undergraduate qualification that blends academic study with work-based learning. For those with a career in audiology already holding a science degree, take a further 3-year NHS postgraduate course specialising in neurosensory science. Anybody who wishes to practise as a private audiologist has to hold an audiology degree approved by the Health and Care Professions Council.
The Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) is the regulatory body overseeing many health and care professionals, including audiologists. They keep a register of professionals who meet and uphold the rigorous HCPC standards for training, skills, behaviour, and health. They protect the public from malpractice by ensuring professionals who the HCPC regulates have their titles protected by law.
In every Regain Hearing ear clinic located throughout London and Kent, private audiologists meet the HCPC’s exacting standards and often go far beyond. Fully qualified and highly experienced audiologists staff our clinics, and our practice is run by professionals who are leaders in their field, noted for developing innovative new techniques and programmes for dealing with tinnitus and hearing loss.
Aside from the skills to thoroughly assess, diagnose, and treat tinnitus, hearing loss, and other ear-related complaints, in less usual circumstances, our private audiologists can make referrals to other relevant healthcare professionals, such as ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialists.
If you’re interested in careful, professional testing and diagnosis to improve your hearing health, book your consultation today.
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Private Audiologist vs. Hearing Aid Dispensers
What does an Audiologist do that a Hearing Aid Dispenser doesn’t? It’s a question often asked by people considering seeking assistance with hearing-related issues. Both private audiologists and hearing aid dispensers treat people suffering from hearing loss, and practitioners of both professions must be registered with and regulated by the HCPC. The difference comes in the level of qualification and scope of practice between these two professions, which is distinct.
As you can probably guess, hearing aid dispensers, such as the ones you’ll find in high street pharmacy chains, deal specifically with assessing hearing loss in relation to finding and fitting a hearing aid suitable for addressing the problem. Some liken visiting a hearing aid specialist to going to an optician to get the right glasses.
Broadly speaking, a hearing aid dispenser will be able to help with testing your hearing to broadly determine the extent of hearing loss, advise on which type of hearing aid is best for you, help fit hearing aids and make sure you know how to use and care for them. They will usually work with people who have more straightforward, age-related hearing loss.
Private audiologists can deal with and diagnose a broader range of hearing loss causes and ear health issues, which may require a more complex set of solutions or personalised treatment plan. They usually provide a more in-depth service involving longer, thorough and detailed hearing tests than hearing aid dispensers.
Generally speaking, private audiologists go beyond the remit of hearing aid dispensers in these areas:
- Assessing hearing problems (such as tinnitus), hearing loss, and balance problems related to the ear.
- Offer more specialised and comprehensive testing than a GP or hearing aid dispenser. This can include tympanometry, video otoscopy, bone conduction tests, pure tone assessment, and speech mapping.
- Are qualified to diagnose and treat rarer conditions relating to hearing loss, such as otosclerosis, Ménière’s disease, acoustic neuroma, and hearing damage caused by head injuries.
- Offer additional services to mitigate hearing loss, such as working with cochlear implants, and provide psychological therapies for conditions like tinnitus.
If you visit your GP with concerns about your ear health or hearing and they make a specialist referral, it will always be to an audiologist.
Our team of private audiologists and expert practitioners are ready to help with all your hearing health issues.