Though the field of Audiology is relatively new, with the first known use of the word “audiology” in 1939, the study of hearing goes back thousands of years. Hippocrates, often referred to as the “Father of Medicine,” is credited with being the first physician to try to understand hearing loss. His writings (4th century BCE) are the earliest known examples of systematically observing and theorizing about conditions associated with the ear and hearing difficulty.
Early detailed anatomical studies in the 16th century laid the foundation for understanding the auditory system. Research by luminaries such as Alessandro Volta and Alexander Graham Bell in the 18th/19th centuries saw advances in the understanding of ear function, diseases of the ear and early/rudimentary systematic hearing tests using tuning forks. Some of these basic tuning fork tests are actually still used today!
Modern audiology began in the early 20th century, shortly after WWI. The person credited as the first audiologist is Dr. Cordia C. Bunch, PhD. He developed the first audiometer prototype, which measured thresholds and loudness discomfort, researched sound perception and wrote the first textbook titled Clinical Audiometry, published (posthumously) in 1943.
His colleague at Northwestern University, Dr. Raymond Carhart, is often referred to as the “Father of Audiology.” In 1943, the Army assigned (now) Captain Carhart and other pioneering scientists around the country (Dr. Moe Bergman, Dr. Ira Hirsh and others) with leading the provision of ‘aural rehabilitation’ and dispensing of early hearing aids to returning service men and women coming home with hearing loss. The tremendous need of returning vets during and shortly after WWII is what jumpstarted the field.
Guidelines, however, did not exist. Returning to Northwestern after the war, Dr. Carhart and his colleagues created the first true Audiology program in 1946. One year later, Washington University in Saint Louis and the Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) partnered to create their own program.
In 1947, the American Speech Correction Association added the nascent field of Audiology renaming it the American Speech & Hearing Association (ASHA; now American Speech-Language-Hearing Association), establishing professional standards for the emerging field of Audiology. University programs expanded throughout the 1950s-60s. Until the late 1990s, Audiology programs offered two different tracks, a PhD for those interested in research/teaching and a Master’s Degree for clinical practice, as the entry level professional degree.
On a relevant tangent, from its inception, ASHA guidelines prohibited audiologists from dispensing hearing aids on a for-profit basis out of concern that retail sales could “compromise clinical objectivity.” This left consumers to the tender mercies of less-than scrupulous hearing aid ‘sales people’ and aggressive retail franchises. Before 1976, the FDA didn’t even regulate hearing aids (which weren’t very good to begin with)! Very much a “Wild West” scenario. People spent large sums on devices that didn’t work as advertised or weren’t supported after sale. Unfortunately (and erroneously), that reputation still persists today to some degree.
ASHA fought to maintain that rule long after it was obvious that consumers were paying the price, only relenting when it was obvious the winds were blowing the other way. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have always vastly outnumbered audiologists in ASHA (~7:1 in 1994 when I began my Masters program). ASHA was never a good advocate for the field of Audiology. I clearly remember Dr. David Goldstein, former Department Chair at Purdue, often wore a button that said “Get the H out of ASHA.”
I was incredibly fortunate to receive my audiological training at Purdue. Back then, Purdue had the odd distinction as the only Big 10 university without a medical school. Accordingly, the foresighted professors there created a program that emphasized Audiology as its own profession, not as an allied health field supporting physicians. The AuD or clinical doctorate that is now the entry-level clinical degree, was in large part born at Purdue.
Thankfully, Audiology now has several excellent professional organizations, including the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) and Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), dedicated to improving the field of Audiology and audiological healthcare for the American public.
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