What is audiology?

Audiology, which we define as the science of hearing, originates from the Latin word audire =to hear. When we look at the history of audiology, it is seen that professionals related to hearing and speech disorders were first organized in the United States in 1927 under the name of the American Academy of Speech Correction.

The term audiology first came into professional use in the United States in 1940 with a government decision, and its duties and powers are stated as follows in the state's catalog defining professions. An audiologist is a person who specializes in diagnostic examination, habilitative and rehabilitative approaches, and research on hearing. deemed necessary In such cases, the patient chooses the most suitable hearing aid and other amplification models for the patient with hearing loss. He is the primary person responsible for adapting the device to the patient. Coordinates audiometric results with other diagnostic tests such as educational, medical, social and behavioral information.

The use of the terms "Audiology" and "Audiologist" in scientific publications dates back to 1946. While the first university course for audiologists was recommended by Carhart at Northwestern University in the United States in 1946, the science of Audiology was developed around the world with the impact of hearing losses in World War II veterans.

When we look at the history of the science of audiology, we see that the first audiometers were developed by Schwartz in 1920 and Fletcher in 1926, the first modern audiometer was put into use in 1937, and the first automatic audiometer was implemented by Bekesy in 1947 (Sente, 2004). Audiometers designed to measure hearing sensitivity are regulated according to national and international standards based on studies conducted on individuals with normal hearing. These standards are known as the American Standards Association (ASA), which was developed in 1951, the International Standards Organization (ISO), which was developed in 1964, and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which was developed in 1969 and is still valid today.

Concept of Decibels

Sound pressure level is important for audibility. The smallest sound pressure perceived by a healthy human ear is 20 uPa (0.0002dyn/cm'). This value is called the hearing threshold. The sound pressure level that causes pain in the human ear is 200 Pa. This value is called the pain threshold. While sounds are perceived by the human ear, they are passed through a logarithmic filter and perceived as Decibels (dB).