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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot test a survey of entering college students' awareness of the profession of audiology and to report the preliminary results of the survey.
Method: A survey was developed and administered in 2003 at the California University of Pennsylvania. A modified survey was administered in 2009. Survey questions asked students to identify what audiologists do and the education requirements to become an audiologist.
Results: Seventeen percent of the students self-reported that they knew what an audiologist did and were able to accurately describe the profession. Approximately 30% of the students learned about audiology from family/friends. Students reported selecting their major based on interest in a specific field and not on market-driven forces such as job opportunities and salary.
Conclusion: Future surveys should be conducted to confirm the extent of the lack of visibility of audiology as a profession and to serve as a metric for the efficacy of future marketing efforts in the profession.
Key Words: audiology awareness, survey development, audiology
By the year 2050, there will be 86.7 million people age 65 and older in the United States, representing 21% of the population (Longley, 2011); 50% of these individuals will have some degree of hearing loss (Brodsky & Cooke, 2000). The number of audiologists required to meet the hearing health care needs of the United States is projected to rise by 25% over the next decade (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008-2009). A shortage of audiologists was predicted beginning in 2010 because this increase in demand is occurring at the same time as a decrease in the supply of audiologists. Reasons for the decrease in audiologists include retirement (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association [ASHA], 1999) and a decline in the number of students in the undergraduate communication sciences and disorders (CSD) pool, which is the primary undergraduate feeder program for audiology doctoral programs (Ackley, Mahshie, & Lasasso, 2004; Emanuel, 2005; Oller, 2000). Research has indicated that 60% of audiology graduate students are first exposed to the profession during undergraduate coursework in speech-language pathology and audiology, and these students may actually "stumble" on the profession (Doyle & Freeman, 2002). In order to create the workforce needed to meet demand, students in undergraduate majors other than CSD must be...