ACAE CORNER | Educating AuD Students for the Practice of Evidence-Based Audiology

By James W. Hall III

This article is a part of the March/April 2018, Volume 30, Number 2, Audiology Today issue.

This article is the second of a two-part series on evidence-based audiology and the education of audiologists. In the first article (Hall, 2018), the concept of evidence-based audiology was reviewed. Also, challenges in the incorporation of evidence-based audiology into doctor of audiology (AuD) programs were identified. This article offers general and specific steps and strategies for more effectively instilling in doctor of audiology students the principles of evidence-based audiology, and their application in clinical practice.

One simple and logical way to define evidence-based audiology is to adapt the definition of evidence-based medicine to our profession. With full credit and acknowledgment to Dr. David Sackett (Sackett et al, 1996), we might paraphrase him in defining evidence-based audiology as the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients with hearing loss and related disorders. The practice of evidence-based audiology means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. Part one of this series identified multiple serious challenges inherent in the instruction of evidence-based audiology.

There is no widely-accepted or endorsed strategy for instilling in doctor of audiology students the principles of evidence-based audiology, but university AuD programs might consider including the following components into the process.