10 Things to Consider When Selecting an Audiologist

Selecting the right audiologist from the wide array of professionals serving your area can be a daunting task. There are several factors you need to consider and numerous professionals you should speak to before making the final selection. Lucky for you, we have boiled down all of this overwhelming information into a list of 10 things for you to consider before selecting an audiologist.

1. Qualifications and accreditations: This is the foremost factor that must be considered. Your audiologist must be a university-qualified hearing professional with memberships of the leading Audiology societies and organizations.
2. Brand independence: A good audiologist will make product recommendations based on the needs of the patient and the quality and reliability of the product, rather than having a financial incentive from the manufacturer to fit a certain brand.
3. Proper care practices: An excellent audiology clinic practices proper care standards to patients. This means no queueing for appointments and no seeing a different audiologist each time you visit. If they give a free trial period, that would be the cherry on top.
4. Hearing testing: An audiologist must be able to conduct comprehensive hearing tests for both, adults and children and for several different purposes, ranging from hearing loss diagnosis to hearing tests for employment, industry and aviation.
5. Payment options: Like any other good business, a good audiology clinic will have resources to help you select a payment option or plan that is easy for you. This means providing assistance if you have hearing health insurance or need to purchase hearing aids.
6. Choices: Each patient is different, in that they have different lifestyles and different budgets for treating their hearing loss. If your audiologist has a wide variety of brands of hearing aids available for you to choose from, you are more likely to end up with the right choice of hearing aids for your particular needs.
7. Hearing aid accessories: Anyone who has been using hearing aids for some time would know how important it is to have hearing aid accessories readily available at the audiologist’s clinic. If the clinic you selected has hearing aid batteries and other accessories available for sale or provides the option of buying them online, this could be a huge convenience for you later on.
8. Hearing protection: A great audiologist will also educate you about the importance of protection for your ears if you have a lifestyle or job that requires you to be exposed to noise for extended periods. The audiologist should be able to dispense earplugs and protection for people with different needs.
9. Hearing aid repairs: Considered one of the most critical of all factors, having an audiologist who can repair hearing aids is incredibly helpful! They should be able to repair all brands and provide free hearing aid cleaning and checks. Some will even make repairs while you wait.
10. Follow-up visits: Your hearing aids may need adjustments from time to time, whether your hearing changes or you have new situational needs. Your audiologist should offer follow-up visits allowing you to have your hearing aid adjusted for your listening experience.