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A report by The Hearing Review describes how hearing care practices are adjusting staffing and workflows as they struggle to hire audiologists. Examples include delegating routine tasks to trained staff, using students and hearing instrument specialists, and organizing schedules to protect clinician time. The report does not quantify the approaches’ effects on wait times or clinic capacity.
Hearing care practices are changing how clinic work is assigned as they face difficulty finding and hiring audiologists, according to a report by The Hearing Review. The approaches described include training support staff for routine tasks, using students and hearing instrument specialists where appropriate, and adjusting appointment schedules to preserve audiologists’ time for clinical work.
Hunter Gerhart, AuD, director of audiology at Livingston Hearing Aid Centers, told The Hearing Review he has had “extreme difficulty” finding and hiring audiologists. The article says the staffing pressure can contribute to packed schedules and longer patient waits, as well as concern about provider burnout. It does not provide national vacancy figures or data measuring the size of those effects.
One approach is to hand off tasks that do not require an audiologist’s expertise. Gerhart cited Bluetooth pairing and hearing-aid cleaning instruction as examples. Kira Savin, president of California Hearing Center and Audiology Associates of Westchester, said trained assistants in her California offices can help with troubleshooting, prepare hearing aids and handle parts of patient education. She said New York offices cannot use audiology assistants, illustrating that staffing options vary by state.
Savin also described training patient care coordinators and receptionists to triage calls and address simple technical problems. Gerhart’s organization uses a mix of audiologists and hearing instrument specialists, particularly in rural areas where its applicant pool includes more specialists. The article also highlights students on clinical placements as a possible source of support for practices near audiology programs. These examples are practitioner accounts, not a comparison of measured outcomes across clinics.
How Clinics Reassign Patient Care
The strategies are intended to reserve clinician time for work that requires an audiologist while directing routine needs to other staff. For example, a trained staff member may address a basic device issue without scheduling a longer clinical visit. The source describes this as a possible operational approach but does not report measured results.
Role changes depend on staff training, the task involved, state rules and clinic procedures. A hearing-aid fitting or clinical assessment is distinct from a basic pairing or maintenance question. Clinics using these models need to define responsibilities and ensure clinical decisions remain with appropriately qualified providers.
The report does not establish that these approaches have reduced waits, improved outcomes or prevented burnout. Their effects may vary with local staffing, patient needs and clinic procedures.
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Staffing Pressures Shape Clinic Workflows
The report describes recruitment as an ongoing challenge for hearing care practices. The practitioners interviewed also discuss changes to established workflows intended to reduce the number of routine interactions handled by clinicians. The source gives examples from practices in California, New York, Texas and other states; it is not an industry-wide survey.
Savin said an audiologist could focus on hearing-aid programming during part of a fitting while an assistant handles basic instruction afterward. She also described front-office staff assessing whether a patient’s concern needs clinical attention or can be addressed another way. Gerhart said his organization has trained and licensed some employees who previously worked as patient care coordinators to become hearing instrument specialists. These arrangements depend on the practice and applicable rules.
The supplied article text mentions block scheduling as another way clinics may structure the day around demand, but ends before explaining how that approach is implemented. The available material therefore provides examples of role delegation and staffing models, but not specific scheduling results or a complete set of scheduling recommendations.
““I have had extreme difficulty finding audiologists and hiring them.””
— Hunter Gerhart, AuD, director of audiology at Livingston Hearing Aid Centers
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Limits of the Reported Results
The supplied source does not give a publication date, national staffing statistics, or measured changes in appointment waits, clinic capacity, patient outcomes or burnout. It also does not provide a full account of the block-scheduling methods referenced near the end of the available text. The examples are attributed to individual practitioners and should not be read as proof that each model works equally well in every clinic.
It is also unclear which specific tasks may be delegated in every jurisdiction, how much training clinics provide, and what oversight procedures they use. The article notes that rules differ: Savin said her California offices use audiology assistants, while her New York offices do not. Practices’ staffing needs and the availability of students or hearing instrument specialists will also vary.
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Local Hiring and Workflow Decisions
The report describes continued recruitment alongside changes to scheduling, training and task assignment; it does not announce a new policy, program or industry-wide deadline. Clinics considering similar approaches would need to review state requirements, define which duties can be handled by each role, and assess whether patients are being directed to the appropriate level of care.
Further evidence would be needed to determine whether these changes reduce delays or affect staff workload. Potential measures include appointment availability, the share of routine issues resolved without a clinician visit and patient feedback, but the source does not report those data. Any further changes will depend on individual practices’ staffing and local demand.
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Key Questions
What staffing problem are hearing care practices facing?
The Hearing Review report describes difficulty finding and hiring audiologists. It says practitioners associate the pressure with packed schedules, longer patient waits and potential burnout, but gives no national figures for those effects.
What tasks might trained support staff handle?
The practitioners cited routine tasks such as Bluetooth pairing, basic hearing-aid troubleshooting, cleaning instruction and parts of patient education. The appropriate duties depend on training, clinic procedures and local rules.
Can every clinic use audiology assistants?
No. Savin said she employs audiology assistants in her California offices but cannot use them in her New York offices. The report does not provide a full state-by-state account of regulations.
Does the report show that these strategies reduce patient waits?
No measured results are provided. The article presents practitioner examples and possible efficiency gains, but does not quantify changes in waiting times, appointment capacity or patient outcomes.
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