Former audiologists survey: Leaving the profession (Machak et al., 2025)

Purpose: Audiologists play an essential role in hearing health care. It has been predicted that the supply of audiologists may fail to meet future market demand. One way to improve the number of available audiologists is to improve retention. The purpose of this study was an exploration of audiologist attrition as a first step toward creating strategies to improve retention.

Method: A survey completed by 47 former audiologists included questions about demographics, why participants entered and exited the audiology profession, and job satisfaction.

Results: Participants cited lack of reward as the most common reason for leaving the profession. About a third disliked the for-profit hearing aid dispensing aspect of the profession, and a few would return to the profession for an audiology job that did not involve hearing aid dispensing. About a quarter left audiology to pursue other opportunities (e.g., selling a private practice), and about a quarter reported poor psychosocial work environment.

Conclusion: Findings highlight the need for national efforts focused on (a) improving audiology awareness so students have a greater understanding of audiology as they are exploring career choices, (b) advocating for improved compensation overall and compensation models that de-emphasize sales-based financial incentives, and (c) creating strategies to help improve audiologists’ work environment and opportunities for leadership roles.

Supplemental Material S1. Survey questions and response summary.

Supplemental Material S2. Tukey HSD Ad hoc analyses for significant ANOVA results as a function of age group and financial contribution group.

Machak, M., Emanuel, D. C., Donai, J. J., & Landers-Ramos, R. Q. (2025). Survey of former audiologists: Reasons for leaving the profession. American Journal of Audiology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJA-24-00215