AUDIOLOGY: A DERIVATIVE OF WORLD WAR II

My husband and I were talking last night on an issue that had arisen (I will probably discuss them in a later post) and he stated that audiology is very far behind in comparison to the other fields of Medicine.  Would any of you be surprised that it triggered my mind into thought?  So I find myself today trying to find a comparison of how far behind the medical field audiology really is.
  
In my searching I found that the American Medical Association met for the first time on May 5, 1847.  I also found that "By 1930, nearly all medical schools required a liberal arts degree for admission and provided a 3- to 4-year graded curriculum in medicine and surgery. In addition, many states also required candidates for medical licensure to have completed a 1-year internship in a hospital setting in addition to possessing a degree from a recognized medical school." (source) If you recall in my post entitled 'Audiologists Sent Back to School' the requirements for the new AuD degree were changed in 2007 and is basically a 4 year degree in communication or similar with roughly 3 years of coursework in Audiology and 1 year of supervised experience. The American Academy of Audiology was developed in 1988. (source)

• In reviewing publications, the first time the words Audiology and Audiologist was used was in 1946 and it is unknown who came up with the terms. 
• The first university course in Audiology was offered by Northwestern University in 1946 
• Audiology was born of hearing aid dispensers to address the hearing damage from World War II.                                                                                                                                             (Source)

I honestly do not know how to describe what I felt when I read these three statements, especially the one about World War II.  Basically there was no interest in hearing health 'til there was a mass number of people who were suffering from a hearing loss.   There was no help for anyone prior to then, they were honestly deprived. I could not imagine being in my position or more so in Alex's position at that time. However, I imagine it would not be much different than how we have been living for the last 2 years, because we knew Alex had the disability during this time, but could not get help.  As I struggled at this realization, I remembered that school was not so hefty then as it is now and the technology that is available today was not available then; somehow these thoughts made me feel a little better. 


To return to the question, how far behind is Audiology in comparison to the Medical field?  Well if we take into account that Medicine was practiced in Colonial America in 1600's, then Audiology is a mere 300 years behind.  However if we take into account when the AMA was developed versus the AAA, then it is only 140 years behind.  If we take into account the time that the MD degree was created versus the comparable AuD degree, then it is only 80 years behind.  With the technology that is available in today's world and Audiology only in its youth, I believe the field of Audiology will catch up rather quickly.  The next decade will be an exciting time.