School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology

Title

Audiologic referral criteria: Sample clinic guidelines

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2005

Abstract

The audiologist's primary roles in healthcare include the identification of hearing loss, habilitation or rehabilitation, and hearing conservation. However, audiologists also function as gatekeepers to medical care. Appropriate medical referrals can, for some patients, reduce the risk of worsening hearing and other medical complications. It is therefore recommended that audiologists adopt clinic referral guidelines. This article contains guidelines for audiology that can be adopted as written or after editing. The guidelines can also be adapted for use in non-audiology clinics, including those of board-certified hearing instrument specialists. This article is divided into three sections. Section 1 contains guidelines for medical clearance for hearing aid use. Section 2 presents criteria for identifying candidates for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to rule out vestibular schwannomas. Successful use of Section 2 criteria requires that each clinic find an otolaryngologist who agrees with the criteria and will order MRIs accordingly. Section 3 contains referral criteria for type B tympanograms. Also included are two flow charts, one to guide decision making regarding case history and one to guide decision making regarding audiometric findings.

Volume

58