{"id":6343,"date":"2017-01-20T17:39:13","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T17:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/everhear.com\/?p=6343"},"modified":"2020-01-11T11:30:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-11T19:30:03","slug":"audiologist-vs-ent-physician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/audiologist-vs-ent-physician\/","title":{"rendered":"Audiologist vs. ENT Physician"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are experiencing discomfort in your ear, nose and throat or feel that your hearing has worsened lately, it is important to know which doctor to turn to: Ear nose and throat (ENT) physicians or Audiologist. \u00a0The world of healthcare can be confusing, but getting the right treatment on time can make a great difference. So what is the difference between Audiologists and ENT physicians?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Audiologist<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Short description:<\/strong> \u201cThe hearing and balance professional\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Goal<\/strong>: To improve quality of life by restoring the patient\u2019s ability to hear and communicate.<br \/>\n<strong>Education<\/strong>: Doctoral degree in Audiology, Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong>: \u00a0Audiologists focus on the science of hearing. They often look at how hearing loss affects our quality of life and seek to improve it in non-intrusive ways, such as hearing instruments, counselling, and communication coaching. \u00a0Audiologists also look at other issues like auditory processing disorders, ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and balance. \u00a0In addition to that, our Audiologists collaborate with our Speech Language Pathologists to provide evidence-based practice and optimal patient care.\u00a0 This is a benefit that makes Evergreen Speech and Hearing Clinic unique.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When to go to an audiologist: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you are experiencing a loss in hearing ability and noticing a greater difficulty in distinguishing speech<\/li>\n<li>If you have noticed long-term gradual loss of hearing<\/li>\n<li>If you and your physician do not suspect any medical causes of hearing loss (e.g. ear infections, physical trauma to the ear, ear wax impaction etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>ENT Physician<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Short description: <\/strong>\u201cThe ear nose and throat doctor\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Goal: <\/strong>\u00a0Diagnose and treat medical problems of the ear, nose and throat (e.g. ear infections, otosclerosis, sinus problems, etc)<br \/>\n<strong>Education: <\/strong>Medical Degree in Otolaryngology (M.D.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong>: ENT physicians are also called otolaryngologists.\u00a0 They are medical doctors\/surgeons who perform a variety of procedures that include ear tube surgeries, surgical removal of tonsils, treatment of swimmer\u2019s ear, sinusitis and more. \u00a0ENT physicians also surgically treat more profound types of hearing loss that are induced by infections, trauma or benign tumors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>When to go to an ENT physician<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you experience a sudden decrease of hearing<\/li>\n<li>If you need earwax removal<\/li>\n<li>If you experience aural symptoms, such as ear pain, vertigo, tinnitus,\u00a0 or fullness in the ear<\/li>\n<li>If your physician believes your hearing loss requires a medical evaluation by an ENT<\/li>\n<li>You have additional symptoms in the ear, nose, throat, and neck areas (e.g. dizziness, sinus problems, recent onset of tinnitus, or masses in the neck\/head)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Where to start<\/h2>\n<p>If you are unsure of which doctor to pay a visit to, start with an audiogram (hearing test).\u00a0 Often times, an audiogram or other diagnostic testing is required to help the ENT determine how you are hearing and in what way to guide your treatment.\u00a0 ESHC offers a variety of tests which allows audiologists to identify specific problem areas. \u00a0These tests include comprehensive audiograms for patients of all ages, tinnitus evaluations, (central) auditory processing ((C) APD) evaluations, electrophysiologic testing, and balance assessments.\u00a0\u00a0 After you receive your audiogram, our audiologist will explain the result and offer a treatment unique to you or, if needed, a referral to another professional (e.g. ENT) should this be necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are experiencing discomfort in your ear, nose and throat or feel that your hearing has worsened lately, it is important to know which doctor to turn to: Ear nose and throat (ENT) physicians or Audiologist. \u00a0The world of healthcare can be confusing, but getting the right treatment on time can make a great&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Audiologist vs. ENT Physician","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","schema":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1107,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}