A Selective Annotated Bibliography for Clinical
Audiology (1988–2008): Reference Works
Susan T. Ferrer-Vinent
Denver, CO
Ignacio J. Ferrer-Vinent
University of Colorado Denver
Purpose: This is the 1st in a series of 3 planned
companion articles that present a selected,
annotated, and indexed bibliography of clinical
audiology publications from 1988 to 2008.
Method: Research and preparation of the bibli-
ography were based on published guidelines,
professional audiology experience, and profes-
sional librarian experience.
Results: This article presents reference works
(dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and
manuals). The future planned articles will cover
other monographs, periodicals, and online
resources.
Conclusions: Audiologists and librarians can
use these lists as a guide when seeking clinical
audiology literature.
Key Words: audiometry, bibliography, deafness,
hearing, hearing aids, hearing disorders
Clinical audiologists are interested in human auditoryand vestibular problems: identifying, measuring,and evaluating; providing data that will assist with
diagnosis and treatment; counseling; making referrals and
recommendations; and providing rehabilitative intervention
as needed. Clinical audiologists use a variety of knowledge
and information every time they work with a patient or
client, and they make decisions based on information from
current and accurate sources.
In a history of hearing test methods, Feldmann (1970)
reported that hearing loss was recognized and written about
as a disorder as long ago as 1550 B.C. Clinical audiology,
however, is considered a fairly young profession (Davis,
1960; Newby, 1964), with its roots coming fromWorldWar II
aural rehabilitation programs (Bergman, 2002). WorldCat, a
worldwide unified library catalog (OCLC, 1992–2008), in-
dicates that no professional clinical audiology books were
published until the 1940s, which saw the publication of a
handful of monographs in this field, including Sonotone
Corporation’s Sound and the Ear, Hayes Newby’s A Group
Pure Tone Hearing Test for Use in the Public Schools, and
the Transactions of the first International Conference on
Audiology held in Stockholm in 1948. Now, the quantity
of published information for clinical practitioners grows
steadily each year. WorldCat lists more than 370 items pub-
lished in English since 2000 that carry the nonexhaustive
subject heading of “audiology.” How can busy clinical audi-
ologists sift through and choose among all this literature?
The purpose of this bibliography is to serve as a guide to
audiologists and librarians who seek clinical audiology lit-
erature published in the last 20 years. Clinical audiologists in
any setting, as well as audiology students, can use the bib-
liography when purchasing resources for their personal or
office/clinic libraries. They can also use the bibliography as
a guide when seeking information resources in medical or
academic libraries. Librarians will find the bibliography use-
ful in developing collections for audiology.
Scope and Organization of the Bibliography
Clinical audiologists work in a variety of settings and
have different specific information needs (such as hearing
conservation or newborn screening). Patients also have a
variety of pathologies, situations, and needs that may require
their audiologists to seek specific information in the course
of diagnosis and treatment. This bibliography contains items
that would currently be useful to clinical audiologists as back-
ground material, reference resources, continuing education
resources, or clinical guides. It is not an exhaustive listing of
everything written pertaining to audiology, hearing science,
anatomy and physiology, communication disorders, and re-
habilitation; however, the recommended items might include
any of these topics. The users of this bibliography could
include students of audiology, audiologists in clinical practice
in any setting, and collection development librarians whose
collections serve those populations.
Supplement
American Journal of Audiology  Vol. 18  S77–S81  June 2009  A American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
1059-0889/09/1801-0S77
S77

The bibliography is planned to comprise three compan-
ion articles: the first, covering reference works (dictionaries,
encyclopedias, handbooks, manuals), is presented here.
The future articles will cover other monographs as well as
periodicals and online resources. Each article will present
recommended resources grouped by major subject; there
will be an index at the end of the third article containing the
recommended resources by author/editor, title, and Library
of Congress classification number.
Procedures
Using various review sources and WorldCat (OCLC,
1992–2008), an online unified catalog, the authors identified
items written in English and published from 1988 to 2008.
The selected resources presented in this bibliography came
from that pool. Several types of materials were not consid-
ered: electronic books, individual articles from periodicals,
dissertations, items of geographic local interest, items of
institution-specific interest, popular literature, and patient
information literature. Nineteen titles were selected for
recommendation in this first part.
The annotated bibliography was researched and prepared
based on published guidelines (Harner, 2000; Hill & Stickell,
2001, 2003; Reference and User Services Association, 2005).
Format of the Bibliography Entries
Item # Title, edition
Author or editor
Publisher location: Publisher, Year of publication
ISBN
– Annotation –
Presence of # of pages/ Library of Published
bibliographic volumes Congress reviews*
references classification
and/or index number
*Review source abbreviations:
ARBA = American Reference Books Annual
E&H = Ear and Hearing
JMG = Journal of Medical Genetics
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
1. Dictionary of medical syndromes, 4th ed.
Sergio I. Magalini and Sabina C. Magalini
Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 1997
ISBN: 0397584180
This revised, updated, and expanded fourth edition of the
dictionary is comprehensive and based on good medical
science. Although information about hearing loss aspects of
syndromes is incomplete, the broad coverage of syndromes
is useful. The entries are alphabetical, and each follows a
general format: syndrome, synonym, symptoms, signs, eti-
ology, pathology, diagnostic procedures, therapy, prognosis,
and bibliography. The terminology related to hearing loss is
restricted, generally referred to as “deafness.” Even when
deafness is mentioned as a symptom, audiologic evaluation
and/or hearing loss intervention may not be mentioned as
a diagnostic procedure or therapy (as in Waardenburg I and
II or Jervell and Lange-Nielsen).
Bibliography & Index 960 pp. RC69
2. Dictionary of syndromes and inherited disorders, 3rd ed.
Patricia Gilbert
Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000
ISBN: 1579582265
This dictionary alphabetically lists 100 syndromes that
fulfill the author’s criteria of causing long-term problems
and having available treatment. The organization of each
article is as follows: name, alternative name, incidence,
history, causation, characteristics, management implications,
the future, and self-help groups. The descriptions of asso-
ciated hearing and ear problems, though oversimplified for
audiologists, are useful. The intended audience is all pro-
fessionals dealing with children who have inherited syndromes.
The index includes a helpful indexing of characteristics. It
does refer to hearing loss as “deafness”; however, it recog-
nizes deafness, conductive deafness, and sensorineural
deafness. There are no bibliographical references, no illus-
trations, and no indications of the author’s credentials.
Index 373 pp. RC69 ARBA 2001
3. Dorland’s illustrated medical dictionary, 31st ed.
Philadelphia: Saunders, 2007
ISBN: 9781416023647
This well-respected medical dictionary has been published
since 1900. All 1,500 illustrations in this 31st edition are
in color, and there are more than 124,000 entries. The edi-
tors note in the preface that medical terminology is changing
and exploding in quantity.
Indexes 2,175 pp. R121
4. Encyclopedia of deafness and hearing disorders, 2nd ed.,
updated
Carol Turkington and Allen E. Sussman
New York: Facts On File, 2004
ISBN: 0816056153
This cross-referenced encyclopedia, while targeting public
audiences, can also serve professionals as a quick back-
ground reference source, especially the appendixes of sup-
port and service groups. There are no illustrations.
Bibliography & Index 294 pp. RF290 ARBA 2004
5. Gale encyclopedia of genetic disorders, 2nd ed.
Brigham Narins, ed.
Detroit, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005
ISBN: 1414403658
This fairly expensive publication is for those who want a
reference resource for a broader range of genetic disorders,
not just disorders with communication involvement. Now
in its second edition, it was written by medical writers, re-
searchers, geneticists, and physicians, assisted by an advi-
sory board of seven geneticists and/or physicians who chose
more than 430 topic entries. Each entry generally includes
S78 American Journal of Audiology  Vol. 18  S77–S81  June 2009