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The Dominican Republic shares with Haiti the island of Hispaniola, which is between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the home to approximately 10.6 million people. The Dominican Republic is known for its exportation of sugar, coffee, and tobacco (Central Intelligence Agency, 2017). The Dominican Republic is also known to be the originating place of bachata and merengue, popular styles of Latin America music and dance. 

Hearing-care professionals (HCPs) and hearing aid wearers report the chief complaint secondary to hearing loss and to wearing traditional hearing aids, is the inability to understand speech-in-noise (SIN; see Beck et al, 2019). Beck et al (2018) reported that, in addition to the 37 million Americans with audiometric hearing loss, 26 million have hearing difficulty and/or difficulty understanding SIN, despite clinically normal thresholds. As such, helping people hear (i.e., to perceive sound) and helping people listen (i.e., to comprehend, or apply meaning to sound) remains paramount.

I recently was talking to a long-time co-worker and friend in a leadership position in a health-care office who commented, “What is this KPI stuff everyone keeps talking about?” I had to pause a moment to consider that someone in a significant position in health care would not understand what that is and why she should care. I began to poll colleagues, friends, professionals, and externs, and found that the majority had no clue what I was referencing. I was quite taken aback. 

Audiologists have credentialing needs that are related to a variety of factors.

New graduates with little experience outside of their foundational training need a state license and a resume that reflects a readiness for professional practice. An independent verification of credentials by a third party, such as a professional organization, is helpful for new graduates as further validation of practice-readiness.