Hearing rehabilitation in private practice.

Abstract

OTOLOGY as a subspecialty in otolaryngology may be approaching the cross-roads. Is the specialty of otolaryngology to surrender by default the responsibility for medical rehabilitation of the hard of hearing patient to organizations controlled and dominated by lay groups to the extent that such rehabilitation will not be within the realm of private medical practice ? In several areas all types of promotion (press, radio, and television) are now being used to educate the public to seek aid for hearing handicaps from such facilities as nonmedical hard of hearing leagues, hearing societies, and hearing centers controlled by lay groups guided by nonprofessional philosophies. Also, many people are being advised to take advantage of the hearing diagnostic and rehabilitative services of university speech clinics, which are again out of medical control and, in the main, even lacking in close medical support or counsel. While we would have no quarrel with such