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(Rockville, MD - July 10, 2006) Recent career rankings of leading media outlets suggest that students returning to school this fall give serious consideration to pursuing careers in the field of communication sciences and disorders.
In January, 2006, U.S. News & World Reports found audiology in first place among "Excellent Careers of 2006." Subsequently, a ranking by MONEY Magazine and Salary.com listed speech-language pathology to be among the 50 top jobs in America.
"As the leading national organization representing both professions, we are pleased to see corroborated by others what we've long known to be the case," ASHA President Dr. Alex Johnson observes. "A career path in the field of communication sciences and disorders is a wonderful and rewarding choice. We strongly encourage students to give it serious consideration."
Audiologists are hearing health care professionals who specialize in preventing, identifying and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids and other assistive listening devices. U.S. News & World Reports listed audiologists number one based on information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S. News cites above average pay and a strong job market growing by 9-17% as baby boomers age.
Speech language pathologists are the professionals who identify, assess, and treat speech and language difficulties as well as swallowing disorders. Their work includes speech-production problems, such as those related to fluency, articulation, and voice disorders, as well as issues regarding learning language and literacy. MONEY Magazine and Salary.com highlighted above average pay and a ten-year job growth of 14.57% as primary factors in speech language pathology coming in 38th among the top 50 jobs. Flexible and creative work environments were also mentioned as job benefits.
"Besides the promise reflected in these polls, it is important to note that these careers are playing significant roles in some of the leading concerns of society," Johnson says. "For example, audiologists have led the way raising the potential risk of hearing loss from unsafe usage of personal audio technology that is so popular today. And speech language pathologists are playing vital roles in schools addressing the social and educational development of children. They are often the first professionals to identify the cause of childhood reading and writing problems. Lastly, they are also very important members of health-care teams tending to our military veterans who suffer brain injuries from explosive devices."
For more information about careers in audiology and speech language pathology go to ASHA's Career Center. ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 123,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders.
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