Audiology Practice Standards Organization (APSO) announced that it has published a formal standard of practice for fitting hearing aids to adult patients. The standard is based on common clinical practices of audiologists across the US, as well as research into the practices that achieve expected outcomes with hearing aids, according to the announcement. Audiologists counsel patients, select the most appropriate hearing aids, fit the hearing aids, and verify that the hearing aids are performing to meet each individual’s hearing loss prescription. This standard of practice describes the work audiologists do in order to ensure successful use of hearing aids for many years, APSO says.

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According to APSO President, Dr Patricia Gaffney, professor of audiology at Nova Southeastern University, “Hearing loss is more than just poorly functioning ears. Your brain goes through significant changes when you have prolonged hearing loss. To address those changes, you need more than just amplification.”

Gaffney reports that hearing aid success is more than just the hearing device. Hearing care is a process with counseling and rehabilitation which is necessary to restore your brain’s ability to process sounds.

“A primary role of the audiologist is to develop a plan of care that helps the hearing centers in your brain rehabilitate, aided by the hearing device. Without the audiologist guiding a patient, hearing aids often end up in someone’s drawer because the rehabilitation process is not allowed to finish,” she said.

APSO Standard S2.1 – Hearing Aid Fitting for Adult and Geriatric Patients may be viewed at https://www.audiologystandards.org by visiting the Current Standards page.

Audiology Practice Standards Organization is a non-profit professional organization dedicated to developing and maintaining practice standards in the profession of audiology. Standards are developed by recognized subject matter experts and are subject to review and comment by all practicing audiologists. APSO standards documents represent accepted standards of practice by audiologists, as described in peer-reviewed literature. All APSO standards are freely accessible to the public. For more information about APSO or to view any standard, visit: https://www.audiologystandards.org.

Source: APSO