CHEDY KALACH explains why the hearing industry’s newest training organisation, the Australasian College of Audiometry, has launched and the role it will have in educating the future audiometry workforce.
You may have heard that there is another option for training in the hearing health sector.
Firstly, yes, a new 100% Australian independently owned small business has hit the audiological industry offering nationally recognised training for audiometry. The Australasian College of Audiometry (AuCA), a subsidiary of ACOD Pty Ltd (RTO Code: 45068), launched in January 2024 and aims to provide a high standard of education in audiometry.
AuCA maintains its independence and commitment to excellence and is not affiliated or in partnership with any other corporations thereby guaranteeing an unbiased educational experience for all its students.
AuCA undergoes regular audits by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and is an active member of the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA). Membership to ITECA is only available to high quality independently owned colleges. Launching this year means the course content is current and updated with the objective to help students become work ready.
Secondly, some are asking if this potential increase in audiometrists will affect audiologists and the public negatively? The answer is, “No, audiometrists will not take the place of audiologists.”
The various universities that do a great job teaching and producing audiologists are generally limited to the main cities. Government statistics show there is a shortage throughout Australia except for metropolitan Brisbane[1]. Having audiometrists in a flexible college where they can study online at their own pace, from anywhere, will help fill the shortage, particularly in regional Australia, again to work along audiologists.
Would you rather a well-trained dental hygienist with great people skills who fits into your practice’s culture and work ethic or a dentist who has the technical skills but poor ‘soft skills?’ Both can perform the same basic tasks but the experience with the hygienist will be more pleasant. Obviously, the hygienist has a limited scope of practice and will need to refer to the dentist for certain tasks. Similarly, a well-trained audiometrist will be an asset to your practice and profession. It’s all about the person and how they work within your practice.
Traditionally, the only option for training in audiometry was with TAFE in NSW. Now AuCA gives another option with local face-to-face workshops (in many capital cities) and the customer service that can only be achieved by an agile family-owned business.
ACOD Pty Ltd was developed from frustrations within the vocational education sectors. The directors were continuously approached by various clients requesting a flexible agile course delivery and questions about why the course was being delivered a certain way. Working in the public system they would receive responses such as ‘this is the product we are offering, so we can’t change it for them’. In other words, they regularly saw students and employers not being offered a customised program for their needs.
Hence, the birth of ACOD in 2017 and the expansion of AuCA. AuCA’s main objective is to offer high level, affordable training, placing the student at the centre and regularly asking what would you want if you were the student or the employer? The directors are not and do not claim to be experts in the audiology profession but pride themselves on putting the customer first and have been in the vocational education sector for decades.
AuCA consists of a great team of audiologists who developed the materials and deliver a course focusing on the needs for future audiometrists. The audiologists have a vast range of experience from occupational noise to paediatric rehabilitation. They include relatively new audiologists and PhD audiologists. This ensures AuCA has knowledge of the profession that only comes from experience and modern trends within industry. All staff share the same student-centred passion for high quality work-ready graduates.
In addition to our wonderful audiologists, AuCA has invested in an exceptional general manager to help lead the team and various projects, Ms Heather Joseph. Heather comes with experience from owning various businesses and has a graduate certificate in business management specialising in project relationship management.
It is commonly known – at least within the audiological profession – that hearing loss is one of the leading treatable risk factors for dementia[2]. We know dementia in Australia is on the rise particularly with our aging population. Audiological services and the need for hearing healthcare professionals will soon be a huge growth industry.
Furthermore, how can we increase the public perception of hearing loss and raise awareness without increasing the audiological market? We will need qualified audiometrists to help audiologists support this increased demand.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chedy Kalach is director of The Australasian College of Audiometry (AuCA), the hearing industry’s newest training organisation. The college was established by the founders of Australia’s largest trainer of optical dispensers – the Australasian College of Optical Dispensing (ACOD). Contact him on chedy.auca@edu.au
References:
[1] Data from Jobs and Skills Australia https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/skills-shortages-analysis/skills-priority-list?code=252711
[2] Hearing Australia – https://www.hearing.com.au/news-and-articles/the-link-between-hearing-loss-and-dementia/?gclid=CjwKCAjwxLKxBhA7EiwAXO0R0BcfhNqNCurvxR4NQPCV-n1hkjHoqGSP-ubIO5O7Z2nHSCGRlv0NwBoC2gsQAvD_BwE
