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A report by The Hearing Review describes how hearing care practices are responding to difficulty hiring audiologists by reassigning appropriate tasks, training support staff, using students and changing schedules. The strategies are presented by clinic leaders as ways to manage demand; the report does not quantify their effects on wait times or patient outcomes.
Hearing care practices are reworking staff roles, appointment schedules and technology workflows as clinic leaders report difficulty hiring audiologists, according to a report by The Hearing Review. The approaches aim to preserve clinician time and manage patient demand, though the report does not provide industry-wide data on staffing levels or measure the strategies’ effects.
Hunter Gerhart, director of audiology at Livingston Hearing Aid Centers, told the publication that recruiting audiologists has been extremely difficult for his organization, which operates in Texas and other states. The report links staffing pressure with packed schedules, longer waits and potential burnout, but does not give figures for those effects. Gerhart said his practice is looking at how to make use of the employees it already has.
One approach is to reserve audiologists’ time for clinical work that requires their expertise and delegate suitable support tasks. Kira Savin, who leads hearing care businesses in California and New York, said California assistants can handle activities such as basic troubleshooting, preparing hearing aids and patient instruction. She said these duties can be passed along after an audiologist completes programming and other clinical work. Rules differ by state; the report says audiology assistants are not an option in her New York offices.
Practices can also train existing staff to handle routine requests and help triage patients. Savin described front-office employees resolving simple hearing-aid or phone-pairing issues, potentially avoiding a separate appointment. Gerhart described a workforce that includes both audiologists and hearing instrument specialists, particularly in rural areas where he said applications from specialists are more common. The report also identifies interns and externs from nearby audiology programs as a possible source of clinic support and practical experience for students.
How Clinics Can Protect Clinical Time
The approaches matter because staffing gaps can affect how quickly patients receive appointments and how much time clinicians have for complex care. Delegation may free audiologists from routine instruction or basic troubleshooting, while triage can help clinics direct urgent concerns appropriately. These are operational strategies described by practice leaders, not evidence that every task can safely or legally be reassigned in every location.
For patients, the practical outcome depends on implementation: support staff need suitable training, clinicians must remain responsible for work requiring their qualifications, and local regulations govern permitted roles. The report offers examples rather than comparative results, so it is not possible to tell from the source how much any one strategy reduces waits, costs or staff workload.
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Staffing Pressures Shape Clinic Workflows
The report frames the staffing challenge as an ongoing concern for hearing care practices, alongside efforts to recruit and retain qualified audiologists. Rather than treating hiring as the only response, the clinic leaders interviewed described reviewing traditional workflows and assigning work according to staff training and credentials.
Examples vary by practice and location. Savin’s California clinics use audiology assistants, while her New York offices do not, according to the report. Gerhart said his organization uses a mix of audiologists and hearing instrument specialists and trains some employees who began in patient-care coordination to move into specialist roles. The source also discusses block scheduling as a way to organize limited provider time, but the supplied text ends before detailing specific scheduling methods.
““I have had extreme difficulty finding audiologists and hiring them.””
— Hunter Gerhart, director of audiology at Livingston Hearing Aid Centers
Results and Rules Vary by Clinic
The report provides examples and practitioner accounts, not national staffing statistics or measured comparisons of the approaches. It does not establish how widely these models are used, whether they shorten patient waits, or how much time or money clinics save. The supplied material also does not provide the full details of the block-scheduling practices it introduces.
Permitted duties differ by state and job credential, and the source does not list the rules for each jurisdiction. It remains unclear how other practices can apply the examples given their staffing, patient needs and local regulations.
Clinics Continue Workflow Changes
The report describes recruitment as continuing while clinics examine ways to allocate current staff more effectively. Practices considering delegation would need to match tasks to employees’ training and local rules; student placements depend on relationships with nearby programs. The source gives no timeline for wider adoption or follow-up data on results.
Further reporting or data from clinics would be needed to assess whether these approaches change appointment availability, patient experience or staff workload. For now, the reported examples show how individual practices are adapting, rather than establishing a single model for the sector.
Key Questions
What staffing problem does the report describe?
Clinic leaders interviewed by The Hearing Review said they have difficulty finding audiologists. The report associates staffing pressure with busy schedules, patient waits and possible burnout, but supplies no sector-wide measurements.
Which tasks might be delegated?
Examples include basic hearing-aid troubleshooting, phone pairing, cleaning and maintenance instruction, and some patient education. The appropriate division of work depends on training, clinical oversight and state rules.
How can students support hearing clinics?
Savin said interns and externs may help with clinic tasks and routine patient needs while gaining practical experience. The report does not quantify how much capacity student placements add.
Does the report show that these strategies reduce wait times?
No. It presents practice leaders’ accounts of possible ways to use staff and scheduling more efficiently, but does not provide outcome data on wait times, costs or patient results.
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