Postgraduate School of Audiology and Phoniatrics

Common training objectives (or common core)

Students must acquire the basics of clinical psychology, medical genetics, internal medicine, general surgery, neurology and paediatrics necessary for the completion of specialist training in the semiotics, diagnosis and treatment of pathologies pertaining to individual specialisations.
They must also acquire knowledge of the main laboratory tests on blood and tissues, radiology and neuroradiology imaging and their purpose and use in clinical and diagnostic assessment, prevention and monitoring of the structures and systems involved in anaesthesia and rehabilitation practices and in patients undergoing intensive, resuscitation and rehabilitation therapies.

Core training objectives

In-depth embryogenetic, morphological and structural knowledge and knowledge of the pathophysiology of organs and systems responsible for auditory and vestibular function and verbal production and perception, and fundamental concepts in physics and electronics in order to acquire the preparatory knowledge for a correct clinical-diagnostic workup and medical, surgical, prosthetic and rehabilitative therapy practice.

School-specific training objectives

Students must acquire knowledge of:
- mechanisms underlying auditory perception, linguistic development and learning in childhood and adolescence;
- theoretical basis of linguistic communication and human phonetics;
- functional and instrumental semeiotics of clinical methods in audiology and phoniatrics and theoretical bases of prevention, as well as their application in remediation of auditory communication disorders;
- medical, surgical, prosthetic and rehabilitative therapy for audiological, otologic and phoniatric disorders; sufficient skills to prescribe habilitation and rehabilitation programmes for correcting the most common disabilities induced by audiological and phoniatric disorders in children and adolescents, adults and the elderly;
- instrumental (phonometric) methods for noise pollution analysis and clinical and medical-legal assessment of acoustic trauma.

Related or additional objectives

Acquisition of basic concepts in the physiopathology, semeiology and clinical practice of medical and surgical specialties useful for diagnosing and treating pathologies that might share common areas of interest with audiology and phoniatrics.
Acquisition of concepts in biomedical technology, electrical and electronic measurements, bioengineering and computer processing necessary for functional diagnosis and prosthetic and rehabilitative methods in audiology and phoniatrics.
Acquisition of basic concepts for the medical-legal assessment of audiological and phonetic lesions and disorders, and concepts of professional ethics necessary for proper conduct as a professional specialist in audiology and phoniatrics.
Knowledge of the general principles of epidemiology and public healthcare in order to plan primary and secondary prevention interventions for human communication disorders.

Mandatory professionalizing activities for achieving the educational objectives of the type are:
- clinical activity on 350 patients affected by audiological and phoniatric pathologies, of which at least 20% in developmental age and 20% in geriatric age;
- 100 complete audiological and phoniatric diagnoses, of which at least 25% with direct responsibility;
- 20 ERA investigations, of which at least 40% in patients in developmental age;
- 25 rhino-pharyngo-laryngoscopies and 25 laryngostroboscopies;
- 10 acoustic spectrum analyses of the voice;
- prescription and control of at least 30 hearing aids, of which at least 10% surgically implanted;
- prescription and participation in 20 rehabilitations of communication pathologies, of which at least 5 in patients in developmental age and 5 in post-surgical patients;
- 1 prevention program for communication pathologies;
- 15 surgical interventions for the resolution of ear pathologies that have caused hearing loss;
- 14 interventions for the surgical correction of dysphonia due to pathology of the vocal cords and vocal tract;
- 15 classifications of language disorders;
- 10 diagnostic classifications of Specific Learning Disorders (SLD);
- 10 diagnostic classifications of swallowing disorders;
- 20 vestibular tests (VideoOculoscopy);
- participation in 45 hearing assessments in the neonatal field (screening);
- participation in 20 diagnoses of neonatal hearing loss with prescription of the prosthetic and rehabilitative therapeutic process of which at least 20% with direct responsibility.
The specialist will be able to compete for the diploma after completing the professionalizing activities.
The trainee, as part of the training course, will have to learn the scientific bases of the School typology in order to reach full maturity and professional competence that includes an adequate capacity for interpreting scientific innovations and a critical knowledge that allows him to consciously manage both assistance and his own updating; in this context, participation in meetings, conferences and the production of scientific publications and periods of attendance in qualified Italian and foreign institutions useful for his training may be foreseen.