To practice audiology, professionals need to have either Bachelors/Masters
degree in Audiology and be registered with Indian Speech and Hearing Association
(ISHA) or Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).
For undergraduate courses the applicants should have passed the pre-university
course or 10+2 from a recognised institution with science subjects - Biology,
Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics. The duration for an undergraduate course
is 3 to 4 years. The various universities may grant admissions either on the
basis of marks of the 10+2 course or they may conduct specific entrance tests
to gauge the merit and aptitude of the aspirants.
Admission to the 2 year post graduate courses requires a graduation in speech
language pathology and audiology. Besides the undergraduate/ post graduate
courses, several institutes offer diploma courses of varying durations.
Course Areas : University courses in speech language pathology
and audiology include acoustics, anatomy, assessment, counseling, hearing
disorders, hearing aids, language development and disorders, linguistics,
neurology and neurophysiology, nonvocal communication, parent training, psychology,
phonetics, speech disorders, statistics, stuttering, voice and voice disorders,
and a variety of specific areas (e.g., autism). The courses and clinical practice
cover the development, disorders, and the training or retraining of human
communication in all its aspects.
Personal Skills: The job is not physically demanding but
is emotionally demanding. The professionals must be able to approach problems
objectively and provide support to patients and their families. Because a
patient’s progress may be slow, patience, compassion, and good listening skills
are necessary. They must have exceptional skills in observation, concentration,
and record keeping. Audiologists should be able to effectively communicate
diagnostic test results, interpretation, and proposed treatment in a manner
easily understood by their patients, relatives and other staff.