Establishment of a social system for the proper spread of hearing aids

A social system for the proper spread of hearing aids was presented. The system was built by the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, with the aid of administration (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). For the otolaryngologists, an intensive course for evaluating the proper fitting of hearing aids has been held, and a system of "Hearing Aid Consultant" otolaryngologists, supervised by regional "Hearing Aid Key Persons", has been commenced. As for the co-medical staff, the government devised a new national certification for the "Speech-Language-Hearing Therapist". For training the salesclerks, a system for qualifying "Hearing Aid Technician" has been created, managed by the Association for Technical Aids (ATA). On the basis of increasing the ability of each profession engaged in hearing aid fitting and/or sales, collaboration of all three professions (otolaryngologists, co-medical staffs, and salesclerks) finalized the current functioning system.