Job Description

Audiologist Position

This position is located in the El Paso VA Health Care System Audiology Department. The duties and responsibilities are carried out throughout the medical center including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the service.

This job is open to the public, federal employees, recent graduates, and internal agency employees. This job is also open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs employees, Health Professions Trainee (HPT), current permanent Federal employees of other agencies, and all US Citizens.

Duties

Duties outlined are at the full performance level Audiologist. The audiologist at this level conducts audiological assessment to determine a patient's need for amplification, predict effectiveness of amplification, determine need for and type of aural rehabilitation and counseling of the hearing-impaired veteran and their family, conducts and interprets behavioral, electroacoustic, or electrophysiological methods used to assess hearing, balance, tinnitus, and neural system function.

Assess the degree and nature of hearing loss, evaluates the vestibular/balance systems. Identifies and evaluates individuals with hearing disorders in the reception and perception of speech, language, and other acoustic signals. Administers the full range of tests including the testing of vestibular nerve function; evaluates the type and degree of hearing loss of patients who are normally unable to provide consistent and reliable reaction to diagnostics. Recommends remedial measures to mitigate hearing loss: The audiologist is responsible for direct services of remedial and sometimes preventative nature. The services encompass the following: use of hearing aids; the selection of monaural, binaural or cross hearing aids of particular type; the issuance of ear defenders for prevention of acoustic trauma for those individuals working in a noise environment; recommendations for special ear molds made necessary because of allergic reactions, severe hearing loss or other reasons; recommendations for procurement of special instruments such as desk amplifiers, telephone amplifiers, radio, or TV magnetic induction devices for special communication problems; routine hearing aid inspection and repair where indicated. Develops treatment plans for most difficult and complex cases. Recommends aural rehabilitation programs for patients with significant physical and psychological complicating conditions. Designs training plans to assist patient and caregivers in utilizing available hearing resources. Sometimes makes a recommendation for change of job in those cases where hearing loss is progressing due to high noise level exposure. Performs other related duties as assigned, including vestibular/balance systems evaluation, as well as tinnitus patients, falls risk assessment, and recommends treatments and management options.

The functions of an audiologist at the independent practice level encompass the following:

1. Promoting, designing, implementing, and coordinating wellness programs for prevention of hearing loss and protection of hearing function.
2. Identifying, evaluating, diagnosing, managing, and treating disorders of human hearing, balance, tinnitus, and other disorders associated with the practice of audiology.
3. Performing otoscopic examination and external ear canal management for removal of cerumen.
4. Conducting and interpreting behavioral, electroacoustic, or electrophysiologic tests used to evaluate disorder associated with the practice of audiology.
5. Administering and interpreting electrophysiologic measurements of neural function including, but not limited to, sensory and motor evoked potentials, tests of nerve conduction velocity, and electromyography. These measurements are used in differential diagnosis, pre- and postoperative evaluation of neural function, and neurophysiologic intraoperative monitoring of central nervous system, spinal cord, and cranial nerve function.
6. Evaluating and providing rehabilitation for central auditory processing disorders.
7. Determining the appropriateness of amplification devices and systems such as hearing aids, sensory aids, hearing assistive devices, alerting and telecommunication systems, and captioning devices; for Veterans with hearing impairment taking into consideration physical, acoustic, cosmetic, situational, and contextual factors.
8. Selecting, evaluating, fitting and programming amplification devices and systems customized to the individual needs of Veterans; verifying the effectiveness of such devices or systems; counseling and training Veterans in the use of amplification devices and systems, and determining the benefit of amplification devices and systems.
9. Determining candidacy based on hearing and communication information for auditory implants (e.g., cochlear implants, middle ear implantable hearing aids, fully implantable hearing aids, bone-anchored and post-surgical assessment, counseling, and all aspects of audiologic treatment including auditory training, rehabilitation, implant programming, and maintenance of implant hardware and software.

Requirements

Conditions of employment:

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a trial period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

Qualifications:

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education. (1) Doctor of Audiology (AUD) from an audiology program recognized by the Accreditation Commission for Audiology Education (ACAE) or Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (2) Other doctoral degree in hearing science or a directly related field from an institution accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
• Licensure. Individuals must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice audiology at the doctoral level in a United States state, territory, commonwealth, or the District of Columbia.
• English Language Proficiency. Audiologist candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).

Grade Determinations:

Audiologist, GS-11: Education. None beyond the basic requirements.

Audiologist, GS-12: Experience. In addition to the requirements at the GS-11 level, completion of one year of professional experience comparable to the next lower grade level.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: .

Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. Such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. programs.

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