Kimberly Ann Sams , MS, CCC-A, SLP

(1) A specialist in evaluation, habilitation and rehabilitation of those whose communication disorders center in whole or in part in hearing function. Audiologists are autonomous professionals who identify, assess, and manage disorders of the auditory, balance and other neural systems. Audiologists provide audiological (aural) rehabilitation to children and adults across the entire age span. Audiologists select, fit and dispense amplification systems such as hearing aids and related devices. (2) An audiologist is a person qualified by a master's degree in audiology, licensed by the state, where applicable, and practicing within the scope of that license. Audiologists evaluate and treat patients with impaired hearing. They plan, direct and conduct rehabilitative programs with audiotry substitutional devises (hearing aids) and other therapy.

The speech-language pathologist is the professional who engages in clinical services, prevention, advocacy, education, administration, and research in the areas of communication and swallowing across the life span from infancy through geriatrics. Speech-language pathologists address typical and atypical impairments and disorders related to communication and swallowing in the areas of speech sound production, resonance, voice, fluency, language (comprehension and expression), cognition, and feeding and swallowing.

An audiologist/hearing aid fitter is the professional who specializes in evaluating and treating people with hearing loss, conducts a wide variety of tests to determine the exact nature of an individual's hearing problem, presents a variety of treatment options to patients, dispenses and fits hearing aids, administers tests of balance to evaluate dizziness and provides hearing rehabilitation training. This classification should be used where individuals are licensed as "audiologist-hearing aid fitters" as opposed to states that license individuals as "audiologists".