Dear Editors:

I am writing regarding the cover story of your January 2012 issue “Audiologist Assistants May Alleviate the Workforce Squeeze.”

The title could very well have been “Audiologist above the actual work of  Patient Services”

Or, “Audiologist too busy looking for another set of billable procedures to take care of Patient Services.”

Or, “Audiologists seek  total control of the hearing aid, distribution system, without actually wanting, or having to handle them.”

The cover article of this month’s “The Hearing Journal” showing what was depicted to be an overworked audiologist ‘in the squeeze’ of a “C” clamp really set me to thinking.  The article was making the argument for “Audiology assistants” who would actually do the things that are under the audiologists practice purvey, but that they have become “too busy” to handle.  The article then went on to list all of the things that those poor overworked audiologist were too busy to handle; like taking hearing tests, making ear impressions, fitting hearing aids, servicing hearing aid patient service issues, and the like.

The cover story of this months issue of “The Hearing Journal” displays a graphic with a huge ‘C’ clamp squeezing what is supposed to be an overworked audiologist.  The gist of the article is that the demand for audiological services has so overwhelmed practicing audiologists that they need assistants to take over those duties associated with the actual hands on of hearing aid fitting, service and all those other messy patient encounters that require skills other than those related directly to measuring something.

From Starkey’s head of Education, to several PHD educators, the cry was that the poor audiologist needed help, provided that help was directly subservient to the audiologist.