It is the position of the Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC) that audiologists are experts and leaders in hearing health and auditory disorders.
SAC acknowledges that there are predominantly two health-care professions that provide services to conduct hearing tests for the purposes of selecting, fitting and dispensing hearing aids and other assistive listening devices. These two groups, audiologists and hearing instrument practitioners, who are not also audiologists (also known as hearing instrument specialists, hearing aid dispensers, hearing aid practitioners and hearing aid dealers), have different scopes of practice, which are defined by their education and training and by regulatory distinctions.
SAC believes that the two professions must provide hearing health care within their scopes of practice for the populations they serve and that the public must be made aware of the significant differences between the two professions when seeking hearing health-care services.