TL;DR
A report in The Hearing Review describes how hearing care practices are responding to difficulty hiring audiologists by reassigning routine tasks, training support staff and changing scheduling practices. The approaches depend on local staffing rules and clinic needs; the report does not quantify their effects on wait times or patient outcomes.
Hearing care practices are trying to meet patient demand amid reported difficulty hiring audiologists by delegating routine tasks, training existing employees and rethinking clinic schedules, according to a report by The Hearing Review. The approaches could free clinician time for appointments that require audiologists, but the report provides no measured results on their effect on waiting times or patient care.
Hunter Gerhart, director of audiology at Livingston Hearing Aid Centers, told the publication that he has had extreme difficulty finding and hiring audiologists. He manages businesses in Texas and several other states and said he assumed other practices were experiencing similar challenges. The report describes packed schedules, patient waits and the risk of provider burnout as pressures associated with staffing shortages.
One proposed response is to reserve audiologists for tasks requiring their clinical expertise and assign suitable routine support to other trained staff. Gerhart cited Bluetooth pairing and hearing-aid care instructions as tasks that may be handled by audiology assistants. Kira Savin, who leads practices in California and New York, said assistants in her California offices can troubleshoot devices, prepare hearing aids and help with patient education. She noted that rules and available roles differ between locations; she does not use audiology assistants in New York.
Savin also described training front-office staff to handle basic technical problems and ask triage questions, so urgent cases can be distinguished from less pressing issues. The report gives the example of reconnecting a hearing aid to a phone as a task that may take minutes at reception rather than requiring a longer appointment. It also describes clinics using students from nearby audiology programs and, in some rural areas, employing both audiologists and hearing instrument specialists.
Freeing Audiologists for Clinical Work
Reassigning tasks that do not require an audiologist could create more capacity for evaluations, programming and other clinical work. For clinics with limited staff, even small changes—such as resolving a basic device issue at the front desk—may prevent routine support from displacing booked appointments. These are potential operational benefits described by practitioners, not quantified outcomes in the report.
The approaches also depend on local regulations, the clinic’s services and the experience of its employees. Delegation requires clear boundaries and training so that patients are directed to a qualified clinician when their needs go beyond routine troubleshooting. The report presents staffing redesign as a way to manage pressure while recruitment continues, rather than as a replacement for hiring audiologists.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Different Roles Across Clinic Settings
The report focuses on hearing care practices facing difficulty recruiting and retaining audiologists. It describes several responses rather than a single staffing model: delegating routine tasks, training existing employees, welcoming students and adjusting the mix of clinicians and hearing instrument specialists. The choices vary by geography and practice scope.
Gerhart said his organization has an approximately 50-50 mix of audiologists and hearing instrument specialists. He said the model fits some rural locations where applicants are more likely to be hearing instrument specialists and where the practice focuses on adult hearing aids. The report also describes staff members progressing from patient care coordinator roles through training and licensure to become hearing instrument specialists. No detailed figures are provided on the number of clinics using these approaches.
“I have had extreme difficulty finding audiologists and hiring them.”
— Hunter Gerhart, director of audiology at Livingston Hearing Aid Centers
Bluetooth hearing aid pairing device
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Impact and Rules Remain Unspecified
The report does not provide data showing how much these strategies reduce patient waits, increase appointment capacity or affect provider burnout. It also does not compare outcomes between clinics that delegate tasks and those that do not. The descriptions are practitioner accounts, not a controlled assessment of effectiveness.
The permitted duties of assistants and other staff can differ by state and role, and the material does not give a full account of the rules governing each task. It is also unclear how widely clinics can use students, how much supervision they require or whether the staffing models described would suit practices with different patient populations and services.
hearing aid cleaning and maintenance tools
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Scheduling Changes Need More Detail
The report identifies block scheduling as another approach clinics may use to protect provider time when demand is high. The supplied material ends as it begins to explain that method, so it does not specify how clinics structure appointment blocks or what results they have reported. Further details on scheduling practices, implementation and measured outcomes would help show which approaches work best under different staffing conditions.
For now, the report’s examples point to clinics reviewing task assignments and workflows while recruitment challenges continue. Whether these changes produce sustained improvements in access or staff workload remains to be established.
audiology assistant training materials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What staffing problem does the report describe?
The report describes hearing care practices having difficulty finding and retaining audiologists, with practitioners citing packed schedules and patient waits as related pressures.
Which tasks might be delegated?
Practitioners cited routine hearing-aid support, such as Bluetooth pairing, basic troubleshooting, device-care instruction and patient education. Which tasks can be delegated depends on staff training, clinic procedures and applicable rules.
How can students help a hearing clinic?
Savin said students from audiology programs can assist with clinic work and gain practical experience. The report does not specify supervision requirements or measure the effect on clinic capacity.
Does the report show that these strategies reduce wait times?
No. It offers practitioner descriptions of possible ways to free clinician time, but provides no measured results on wait times, appointment capacity or patient outcomes.
Source: rss
