Survey of Audiology Graduate Programs: Training Students in Tinnitus Management

Purpose: Although tinnitus is highly prevalent among patients receiving audiology services, the extent to which most audiologists are trained in tinnitus management is not well documented. The extent and type of instruction in tinnitus clinical care provided by audiology graduate (AuD) programs is not clear, nor is it known whether training programs are consistent in their recommendations. It is certainly true that widely accepted standards do not exist to ensure that all tinnitus clinical services are supported by adequate scientific evidence, which may result in unsatisfactory outcomes and unnecessary expense for patients. The purpose of this clinical focus article is to describe the results of an informal survey of AuD programs to determine their level of training for tinnitus management. Method: A short survey was sent to all 75 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association-accredited AuD programs to assess the extent and type of tinnitus training their students receive. Conclusions: The 32 AuD programs that responded to our survey provide tinnitus training using a variety of settings and methods. Further research could explore in more detail the extent of training in specific methods provided by these programs, and aim to elicit responses from a greater number of programs and from the students themselves.