A retrospective look at the future of aural rehabilitation

It is prompted that the need to provide aural rehabilitation for servicemen deafened as a result of WW II injuries precipitated the emergence of audiology as a separate profession. Over the years, the profession and individual audiologists have struggled to balance this role with the need to act in a technical support role for the medical profession. In this development, for many reasons, aural rehabilitation has usually been relegated to secondary status, carrying less prestige, recognition, and rewards. A case is made in this article that it is possible to provide for much - not all - of the aural rehabilitation needs of our patients within the hearing aid selection process - with an emphasis on process.