Audiology ranked one of top 10 careers

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Graduate student Trent Westrick injects foam in order to create a mold of Ellie Warren's ear canal.

It is a job that offers a high starting salary, excellent hours and the opportunity to help people. Chances are, you've never heard of it.

For the second year in a row, audiology has been ranked as one of the top 10 careers by US News and World Report. At Ohio State, students have many opportunities to pursue the discipline. OSU offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as experience working and learning on campus in the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic. Graduates of the program have little difficulty finding employment. At the moment, the demand for audiologists far exceeds the supply.

"Right now it really is a seller's market," said Gail Whitelaw, director of the Speech-Language-Hearing clinic. "OSU students are in big demand."

What it is Audiologists are specialists who treat people with hearing and balance disorders. In many ways, they are to hearing what optometrists are to vision. Audiologists can work in all kinds of settings, including schools, hospitals, physicians' offices, clinics or private practices.

Their clients are diverse.

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Undergraduate student Julie Lincoln observes a hearing sensitivity test.

"Some people think we only treat old people, but that's far from the case," Whitelaw said. "Thanks to new laws requiring screening for infants and schoolchildren, we're seeing younger and younger clients - even infants. And the early intervention is making a real and positive impact on their lives."

OSU's program in speech and hearing - along with the clinic that has provided services to the community and clinical education - has been around for more than 70 years, Whitelaw said.

It offers an undergraduate program in speech and hearing science where students learn the fundamentals of language development and can do research on topics in the field, as well as a doctoral program that grants the Au.D. necessary to practice audiology. Graduate students begin their work in the classroom and later go on to practice.

Whitelaw said hearing loss is not treatable, and thus audiology is not a traditional medical practice. She said audiologists have more time to work with patients, in contrast to the time constraints often imposed on doctors who are general practitioners. Audiology can also help with differential diagnosis.

"To me, relationships with doctors are positive because they recognize that we provide a valuable service," she said. "We can take what they do with their patients and augment it and increase the benefit to everyone a hundredfold."

A day in the life In a room smaller than most walk-in closets, 4-year-old Ellie Warren placed pegs into holes in a square board every time she heard a noise through her headphones. Ellie, an outgoing girl with blonde pigtails and a quick smile, laughed as she completed her task.

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Graduate student Anne Rekasie takes a peek inside Ellie's ear.

On the other side of a window, graduate student Trent Westrick monitored her progress. "This is actually how we test her hearing," he said. "Younger kids don't really have the patience to raise their hands every time they hear the sound, so we turn it into a game for them and try to make it fun."

Ellie's hearing loss came as a shock to her mother, Camille.

"I really never considered the possibility that Ellie could have hearing loss," she said. "With most kids who have hearing loss, there is a speech delay, and she's always spoken normally. It turns out she was probably reading my lips; that seems to be her coping mechanism."

Ellie's hearing loss was discovered in preschool, and her mother was referred to the OSU clinic to get Ellie hearing aids. Graduate students work in the clinic, learning to diagnose patients and fit them with hearing aids under the supervision of experienced instructors.

"I think our clients understand that it's a learning facility," Whitelaw said. "But they also seem to appreciate that if the students take a little longer to complete a test, they are doing so to give them the best care possible."

Ellie's mother had no complaints. She said Ellie's treatment has improved her understanding of Ellie and decreased feelings that her daughter was simply ignoring her.

"I think it's been a really positive thing," Warren said. "The most difficult thing is remembering to have her take them out before she goes swimming."

And Ellie loved showing off her hearing aids.

"I have this one, and it's pink and purple," she said.

A career that fit Students come to the program for different reasons and from different backgrounds. For Westrick, it seemed like a natural fit. He has had hearing loss his whole life.

"I knew I wanted do something in the medical profession," Westrick said. "I knew the relationships that doctors have with their patients ... I knew I would be able to have a more personal relationship with my patients (as an audiologist), and that was what really drew me to audiology."

His interests involve genetics - trying to figure out exactly what causes hearing loss. Whitelaw said Westrick's life experiences prove an asset in his practice.

"People feel really comfortable around Trent because he relates to them really well," Whitelaw said. "They can ask him, 'Well, how did you feel when this happened?'"

For Anne Rekasie, an Au.D. student, a career in audiology was inspired by a family tragedy.

"My grandfather suffered a stroke and he was able to regain all his language and speech, and I watched him get better," she said. "Now I do the same thing every day with people who are having a hard time hearing."

Rekasie works as an audiology extern at the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic and the Alexander Graham Bell School. She is interested in adapting products for people with hearing loss and works to educate kids and adults on the dangers of loud music throughout time.

Rekasie began her research as a speech-language pathologist, but said she switched to audiologist at the last minute, and is happy she did. "It was the right decision," she said.

For Julie Lincoln, a senior in speech and hearing science, an undergraduate major helps decide her future plans.

"The undergraduate major is good for me because people are really friendly, the topics are interesting, and this is helping me decide if this is really what I want to do before I go to graduate school," she said.

Her senior thesis focuses on the relationship between delayed diagnosis of hearing loss and the effects it can have on a child's reading skills. She said observing and volunteering are good ways to learn.

"It's a very friendly profession," she said.

Whitelaw enjoys directing the clinic.

"My favorite part of this job is getting to work with the students," she said. "Students get to do something great every day. There's a lot of positive energy here and I get to do everything I like."

Offering hope Another benefit of the profession is the ever-improving technology used to help people with hearing loss.

"Even now the difference between current hearing aids and old ones - and by 'old' I mean 10 years ago - is vast," Whitelaw said. "With old hearing aids, you'd sometimes get feedback. Now we can eliminate that feedback and adjust the aid to a person's lifestyle."

Whitelaw said one of the most important things audiologists do is improve the lives of the people they treat.

"The profession of audiology offers hope to people who want to communicate more effectively so they can fully participate in their lives," Whitelaw said. "Often people feel sorry for people with hearing loss, especially children, almost like they are a 'victim' and they are 'suffering.' Audiologists actually provide solutions to issues that confront people with hearing loss and help to empower them."

For information on graduate and undergraduate programs in audiology and speech and hearing, visit sphs.osu.edu.

For information about the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, see speechhearingclinic.osu.edu.

Rachel Lichtenfeld can be reached at lichtenfeld.6@osu.edu.