Hearing care will never go the route of "entirely implant." Cochlear implants are only a viable option for a very small percentage of persons with hearing loss. Could you imagine having a mild hearing loss and someone telling you that a surgical prosthesis must be implanted into your skull as treatment? Ridiculous.
Also, for the person with a cochlear implant the audiologist plays a vital role in the follow-up and care of. In its rudimentary form, the C.I. is a surgically implanted hearing aid. It still relies on electrical signals and modified settings for the end-user that must be performed by an audiologist.
Audiology survived through the 70's when legislation would not allow practicing audiologists to dispense hearing aids. Regardless of hearing aid technology, hearing aid users will always require management and care, especially among the elderly and those with hearing losses of greater severity. I truly believe that at the present time legislation that allows hearing aid dispensers with no formal education to play a role in hearing management is what really holds the profession back. There are just too many unqualified "professionals" making vital decisions on client care.
They only situation that could truly put the profession of audiology at risk is hair cell regeneration in the cochlea. At the present time this technology looks to be several decades, if even in our lifetimes, away.
The field is dynamic and changing (for the better). There is a good outlook for the career of an audiologist.
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