An audiologist – who is he, what does he treat and what does the doctor do. Audiologist. What does this specialist do, what research does he conduct, what pathologies does he treat?

From the early childhood a person begins to distinguish sounds environment. The organ of hearing, the ear, helps him in this. The medical discipline that deals with hearing problems is called audiology. It is included in the large section of otolaryngology. Audiologists diagnose and treat patients with partial or complete deafness. Specialists also accompany their patients during the rehabilitation period, prescribing recommendations and drug maintenance therapy.

Competence of an audiologist

An audiologist is a doctor who provides rehabilitation and accelerates the adaptation of patients with deafness or hearing loss to society. The specialist uses specific diagnostic procedures and chooses individual programs treatment in each specific case. The doctor must graduate medical University, as well as an internship in the specialty "".

The competence of an audiologist includes the following:

Collecting anamnesis, considering complaints from the patient or the child’s parents.
Local inspection in a medical office setting.
Usage diagnostic measures to make a diagnosis.
Indication of the degree of sensorineural hearing loss in the patient.
Prescription of drug and surgical treatment.
Individual selection hearing aid if necessary.
Carrying out surgical intervention on the eardrum, structures of the middle and inner ear.
Identification of speech defects that are associated with hearing problems.
Purpose rehabilitation measures to restore hearing and improve speech.
Provides recommendations for restoring hearing after surgical interventions.

An audiologist deals more with hearing problems in children, because it is at this age that congenital hearing impairments first appear. The doctor also treats young and older people who have hearing loss due to injuries, inflammatory diseases middle and inner ear.

What organs does an audiologist work with?

How it works auditory analyzer? The perception of sound is a very complex physical process that depends on the coordinated work of many organs. Processing air vibrations and then eardrum performed in the brain, where the auditory center is located. At one of the links in this chain, a disorder may occur that is accompanied by partial or complete hearing loss.

An audiologist deals with problems that occur in the following structures of the ear:

Eardrum.
Auditory ossicles: malleus, stapes and incus.
Middle ear cavity.
Auditory nerve.
Nerve pathways auditory nerve, which conduct impulses to the brain.
The auditory center of the brain, which is located in the temporal lobe.

The earlier hearing problems occur, the more serious problems with speech will be observed in the future.

There is a close relationship between hearing and the ability to speak. If a person does not hear before he begins to speak, he will remain deaf and dumb in the future. If hearing is lost in adulthood, the ability to speak will remain.

What complaints do people go to an audiologist for?

An audiologist in his practice encounters various pathologies. Very often the doctor deals with children who have birth defects development of the hearing aid. Sometimes the pathology occurs after rubella or chickenpox during pregnancy.

It is usually difficult to get an appointment with an audiologist, since this specialty is not so common among medical workers. An audiologist sees patients with the following complaints:

Lack of reaction of the child to the words of the parents. In this case, the child does not turn his head and does not react in any way to the words spoken to him.
Problems with speech at the age when the child is already required to form syllables and sentences.
Purulent discharge from the ear.
Soreness and feeling of fullness in the ears.
Noise, ringing in the ear after listening loud music in headphones.
Hearing impairment combined with balance disorder.
Age-related changes in hearing.
Impaired speech due to poor perception of sounds.
A sharp decrease in hearing after the use of antibiotics.
The need to watch TV at high volume.
Poor perception of speech spoken in a whisper.

The sooner a hearing problem is noticed, the sooner you need to contact an audiologist. It is timely treatment that can prevent the occurrence of problems with the perception of sounds, and subsequently speech pronunciation.

Diseases treated by an audiologist

An audiologist deals with a separate branch of otolaryngology. Unlike an ENT doctor, an audiologist does not treat inflammatory diseases outer ear. Doctor fights ear diseases which caused hearing loss.

The specialist treats the following pathologies:

Purulent otitis media- inflammation of structures tympanic cavity. The accumulation of viscous fluid leads to immobilization of the auditory ossicles and hearing loss. Patients complain of pain and noise in the ear, headache, high temperature bodies.
Perforation of the eardrum is the formation of a hole in this structure. The condition appears after progression purulent otitis. A man points to suppuration from the auricle, sharp deterioration hearing, while the pain decreases sharply.
Meniere's disease is a pathology of the inner ear when there is excessive accumulation of endolymph (a special fluid in the ear). Patients suffer from excessive dizziness, nausea and vomiting, tinnitus and hearing loss.
Otosclerosis - pathological growth bone tissue in the middle ear. As the process progresses auditory ossicles are blocked, and the transmission of vibrations becomes impossible. The disease first affects one ear, then spreads to the other. Patients experience progressive hearing loss.
Sensorineural hearing loss is damage to the analyzer, which is responsible for sound perception. The person does not perceive whispered speech well and needs to use hearing aids.
Barotrauma - occurs in athletes, climbers, divers, pilots. Due to a sharp change in atmospheric pressure, the eardrum may be damaged, and hearing may be lost for some time.
Middle ear polyp - growth connective tissue, which interferes with the transmission of sound vibrations through the auditory ossicles. Patients note constant discomfort, congestion and noise in the ear, poor perception of the speech of others.
Congenital deafness is often associated with damage to the auditory nerve past infections mothers during pregnancy. If this disease is not treated for a long time, the child may remain deaf and mute for life.
Adhesive otitis media is an inflammation of the tympanic cavity in which adhesions form. The patient reports progressive hearing loss, ringing and tinnitus.

An audiologist has the skills of a surgeon to perform surgical correction hearing

Tests ordered by an audiologist

To test a patient's hearing ability, additional methods research. First you need to undergo routine tests:

General analysis blood.
General urine analysis.
Blood clotting time.
Coagulogram.

Then, to determine the pathology more specifically and prescribe specific treatment, you need to carry out the following instrumental methods research:

Otoscopy is an examination of the eardrum using a special device - an otoscope.
Audiometry is a method for studying hearing acuity. The doctor sets the air level and bone conduction. To do this, use tuning forks (metal instruments) or special equipment (audiometer).
Tympanometry allows you to assess the mobility of the eardrum and auditory ossicles.
Otoacoustic emission - the method helps to detect weak impulses from the cochlea (the structure of the inner ear), the presence of which indicates the degree of damage to the auditory analyzer.
Computed tomography of the skull - accurately establishes the structure and anatomy of all parts of the ear, shows the location of the lesion, the accumulation of pathological fluid.

The diagnostic program is different for each patient. It depends on the cause of hearing loss, the degree pathological changes. The development of high-precision equipment significantly improves diagnostics, and in the future helps to obtain positive result from treatment.

By listening to the advice of an audiologist, you can: early stage identify problems with hearing acuity:

If Small child does not respond to the speech of parents or other family members, you should immediately contact an audiologist.
When a child cannot speak clearly during a period when all peers are communicating, you should also contact a specialist.
If, after a cold, swimming, or injury, ear pain or ear congestion appears, you should come to see.
Treatment of otitis media should not be completed halfway. This threatens the emergence of complications - hearing loss, adhesive otitis media, otosclerosis.
Purulent discharge from the auricle requires immediate treatment by an ENT doctor.
It is prohibited to use vacuum headphones.
You can’t listen to music very loudly, this will disrupt the perception of the weak sound vibrations(whispered speech).
In a workplace where there is a source of noise, you should use soundproof headphones.
It is not advisable to dive into water to a depth of more than 5 meters without special equipment. This can cause damage to the eardrum.
The use of ototoxic antibiotics (Amikacin, Erythromycin) in large doses can cause partial or total loss hearing Therefore, it is better to avoid using such drugs.

An audiologist fights to restore hearing acuity and treats adults and children with auditory analyzer problems.

Audiology is a branch of defectology that studies problems regarding the adaptation and rehabilitation of people with one or another hearing impairment, up to its complete absence, is called audiology. An audiologist is a clinician who identifies hearing disorders. It helps people with hearing impairments to hear the enchanting world of sounds again. In addition, such a specialist specializes in fitting hearing aids.

Online Appointment with an Audiologist

Who is an audiologist?

It is also important for parents to pay attention to how their child hears. Often bad hearing leads to speech disorders. Therefore, if there are any doubts about the child’s hearing, it must be shown to a specialist in a timely manner.

What diagnostic methods does an audiologist use?

The initial examination by an audiologist involves several diagnostic measures, namely:

Studying the patient's medical history and life history.
Performing a physical examination, which aims to determine hearing acuity and examination ear canal using special tools.
Conducting a detailed survey to determine the first time of appearance and severity of the alarm signal.

After this, the doctor will prescribe audio or tympanometry - this is absolutely painless and effective diagnostic measure. In addition, the following procedures can be carried out:

Electrocochleography.
Otomicroscopy.
Reflexometry.

Audiologists often recommend that their patients consult other clinicians, such as a neurologist, pediatrician, surgeon, or cardiologist. This is necessary to identify pathologies that have led to hearing disorders, but are not associated with the hearing aid.

Pediatric audiologist

This is a doctor whose competence includes identifying ailments and correcting hearing in children from birth.

During diagnosis, techniques are used that involve monitoring and studying reflexes or reactions. In addition, the clinician will:

Measurement of pressure in the middle ear area.
Evaluating eardrum activity.
Fixation of acoustic resistance in the external auditory canal.

Parents should pay attention to hearing problems in children, especially schoolchildren and newborn babies. Timely appeal seeking help from such a clinician will help avoid the development serious complications, on early stages diagnose the disease and begin therapy as early as possible.

Avoid exceeding the hearing threshold. If living conditions are such that the noise threshold around you is often exceeded, then you should try to reduce it as much as possible. To do this, install soundproofed windows and keep them closed. This applies to people living along the road, along noisy highways, etc.
Under no circumstances should you ignore the first symptoms of hearing loss, which are noise and ringing in the ears.
Contact specialists in cases of delay speech development child.
If the baby does not respond to clapping hands next to him (at a distance of a meter), this may indicate hearing impairment.
Take place regularly preventive examinations not only from an otolaryngologist, but also from clinicians of other specializations.
Only early detection of pathology will help avoid complete hearing loss.

An audiologist helps everyone who has hearing problems; today they are quite easily solved with the help of hearing aids.

An audiologist helps people with hearing impairments hear the enchanting world of sounds again.

Who is an audiologist?

An audiologist is, in fact, the same ENT doctor, but who knows more about ear diseases than about other organs of the nasopharynx. An audiologist diagnoses and treats congenital and traumatic lesions middle ear. Today, an audiologist surgeon is capable of performing miracles and making unique surgical interventions, which in many cases completely restore hearing. Auditory ossicles are made from nails and prosthetics are inserted into the ear.

child in for preventive purposes It is useful to examine in the first year of life, check hearing when entering school, and if there are problems, then regularly in middle and high school school age, after flu, measles or removal of adenoids, otitis media, head injury, ringing in the ears. Sometimes pharmacotherapy is enough for hearing to return to normal. If you need surgery, you may be put on a waiting list, but you will actually have to wait a long time and use a hearing aid.

When should you contact an audiologist?

If you are concerned about pain, noise in the ear, or hearing loss, consult an audiologist. He will diagnose and prescribe treatment, individually select and adjust a hearing aid.

If you sometimes don't hear a knock on the door or the phone ringing, if you have difficulty carrying on a conversation in which several people are participating, or if your loved ones make comments to you about how loud you are, if you try to sit close to the stage at a concert, have your hearing checked . You may also be referred for consultation to other specialists, such as a neurologist.

An audiologist works in a hospital or public and private audiology centers.

By 9 months, the child usually listens to familiar sounds, babbles, and by the age of one and a half years he knows his name, the words “mom”, “dad” and several others. By the age of two, a child should be able to put words into simple sentences.

Older children are worried about deteriorating school performance.

What diagnostic methods does an audiologist use?

An audiologist uses tympanometry in his practice - research auditory tube, and also evaluates hearing at eleven frequencies. Also, according to indications, electrocochleography is performed - a method of recording the activity of the cochlea and auditory nerve during attacks of dizziness and hearing loss and ear congestion. Otomicroscopy and threshold audiometry, reflexometry are performed.

What does an audiologist do?

An audiologist diagnoses and treats hearing problems. You should contact an audiologist if it is difficult to determine the direction of the sound, if crowded places speech is difficult to understand. An audiologist examines the ear with an otoscope and diagnoses hearing by switching to a whisper. Based on the examination results, a hearing aid is selected.

The problem is that 8-10% of people have hearing impairment, but at home you may not notice that you can’t hear well, because you can guess a lot of things from the meaning. This is how the brain compensates for hearing loss.

An audiologist becomes an ENT specialist who has specialized in ear diseases. What leads to hearing loss:

The habit of not parting with the player, and constantly spending weekends at discos and concerts.
Working in noisy industries without headphones.
Head injuries.
Severe otitis media.
Failed treatment with neurotoxic antibiotics.
Congenital disorders of the structure of the middle and inner ear, or the auditory nerve.
Acquired neuropathies of the auditory nerve after previous brain diseases.
Diabetes.

After the doctor has established a hearing impairment and found out why the person began to hear poorly, he suggests ways to solve this problem.

Are you worried about hearing loss, sudden or chronic, otosclerosis and tinnitus, you can’t hear the ringtone on your phone or the intercom, you often ask to repeat what was said, are you asked to speak more quietly? Do you often need to turn up the TV volume, otherwise you can’t hear anything? Go to an audiologist as soon as possible.

Otosclerosis is a disease in which the bone of the middle ear grows. 20% of people have signs of the disease. It first appears at the end of puberty. Signs of otosclerosis: tinnitus, hearing loss.

Deafness is a significant hearing loss in which a person cannot perceive speech, and hearing loss is significant loss hearing, in which the ability to perceive speech is preserved. Hearing loss occurs due to the presence of wax in the ear canal and damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve. In this case, they talk about sensorineural hearing loss. Its causes: trauma, taking certain medications, brain diseases, rubella. Hearing aids are used to compensate for hearing loss due to hearing loss. They are attached behind or inside the ear. Intracanal devices are preferable for people who are embarrassed about their illness, but they are more expensive than external ones.

Tinnitus is observed with otitis media, blockage of the auditory tube, middle ear tumors and trauma, as well as anemia and atherosclerosis, and other vascular diseases.

For all these conditions, an audiologist will help you.

What diseases does an audiologist treat?

An audiologist treats hearing impairment both conservatively and surgically. Laser treatment and other types of physiotherapy are used.

Meniere's disease is a lesion of the inner ear with hearing loss and tinnitus. The disease begins at 40-50 years of age. Accompanied by tinnitus and congestion, numbness of the auricle.

Acoustic neuroma – slow growing benign tumor causing loss of balance.

An audiologist treats all hereditary, congenital and acquired hearing pathologies: otosclerosis,

An audiologist specializes in diagnosis and treatment. various diseases associated with hearing impairment.

What does an audiologist treat and how?

Unfortunately, not in every medical institution You can get an appointment with an audiologist. A completely logical question arises: what does an audiologist treat? Essentially, an audiologist is an otolaryngologist with a narrower profile specialization who has in-depth knowledge of the physiology of the hearing organs and auditory perception brain

In modern reality, every tenth inhabitant of the planet needs the help of an audiologist due to hearing pathology varying degrees severity, and in last decades it is observed not only in older people, but also in representatives of the younger generation.

Unlike an ENT specialist who deals with acute conditions(otitis and others), the field of activity of an audiologist is persistent hearing impairment, diseases of the middle ear, traumatic and congenital pathologies. In the vast majority of cases, the audiologist needs to establish and, if possible, eliminate the cause of the disease.

An audiologist has such diagnostic techniques as audiometry, which allows him to objectively assess general state hearing and the presence of disorders, and tympanometry, which is used to determine the mobility of the auditory ossicles and eardrums.

If necessary, the audiologist may prescribe a consultation with another specialist (surgeon, neurologist, etc.) or additional research methods (magnetic resonance or computed tomography, various laboratory research and others). After an adequate and correct diagnosis, the audiologist prescribes therapy. It can be medicinal or involve certain procedures (for example, removing wax plugs).

If there are no positive changes, the audiologist selects a hearing aid and adapts it individually for each specific patient. If the use of a hearing aid is ineffective, the audiologist refers the patient to training in sign language and speech perception by articulation.

A qualified audiologist knows the latest modern techniques diagnosis and treatment of hearing pathologies. The rapid development of medical science and technology in the 21st century allows modern audiologists to perform prosthetic hearing ossicles and implant hearing prostheses. Patients should remember that at the first sign of hearing loss, they must make an appointment with an audiologist. When choosing an audiologist, reviews from friends, acquaintances and colleagues will help you decide on a specialist.

Pediatric audiologist: what is the difference

Let's figure out what an audiologist treats for infants and older children. A pediatric audiologist diagnoses and corrects hearing impairment in children, starting from birth. The work of a pediatric audiologist has its own specific and very specific specifics.

There are scientifically established rates of development of the hearing system of a child in the first year of life, according to which the diagnosis of hearing loss by an audiologist during this period is somewhat difficult and not always correct, although some young patients may notice unusual behavior Special attention specialist

In children from one to four years old, an audiologist can quite accurately diagnose hearing loss and with high probability assume mild hearing loss. Developing at a later age, it has virtually no effect on speech, that is, externally healthy children require a mandatory visit to a pediatric audiologist, because undetected pathology can lead to deafness. If your child often asks to turn up the TV volume or hears speech better when the speaker is facing him, be sure to make an appointment with an audiologist. When choosing a specialist for your baby, be guided by reviews of audiologists from parents of other children - they will help you find a knowledgeable and sensitive doctor.