english

In researching the field of Communication Disorders, I will focus on Audiology. Audiology is important because its objective is finding solutions and treatment for subjects with hearing impairment. Audiology became important to me when a documentary on implanting hearing aids in children who were bomb victims in 2012 sparked my philanthropic interest. I later was given an opportunity to job shadow an audiologist the summer of my junior year working in a clinical setting with a patient. Benefits of the field include job security and constant opportunities for jobs, good pay to sustain a family, and a non-stressful career because the work is so rewarding. On the other hand, the field requires a costly eight years of post-secondary schooling, being able to maintain a flexible schedule because one may have to work weekends to accommodate patient’s needs, and a willingness to stay with the career path because licensure is expensive. Research will be done through internet resources, a personal interview and print sources. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website, ASHA.org, will be my primary research aid coupled by the Audiology section of the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Academic journal entries in the library database on cochlear implants will also be used to further focus on the cochlear implant controversy. The controversy of cochlear implants will focus on the reception of the procedure in the deaf community and lack of insurance coverage of them. Personal interview will be conducted with Dr. Rebecca M. Fischer who is a current professor at MTSU with an audiology degree teaching audiology. She will be able to entertain my questions about the medical aspect of cochlear implants and what an audiologists outlook is month by month. Being able to shadow an audiologist for only a day did not let me peer into anything more than clinicals to discover what all an audiologist does. The field of audiology interests me and hopefully through all the research I will understand the complexities of it.