Ethical Dilemmas in Audiology: A Comparative Analysis of Perspectives from the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States

The current study aimed to identify the ethical sensitivity of audiologists in Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and compare it with audiologists in the United States (U.S.) as reported in the 2002 and 2006 studies by Hawkins and colleagues.

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No actionable change to clinical practice — however, audiologists working in multicultural or internationally diverse settings should recognise that ethical reasoning frameworks differ across cultures, which may affect team decision-making and patient communication.

As audiology becomes an increasingly global profession, cross-cultural differences in ethical sensitivity have implications for international training standards, professional guidelines, and collaborative clinical practice.

1. 01Audiologists from MENA Arabic-speaking countries and the US were compared on ethical sensitivity.
2. 02Meaningful cross-cultural differences in how ethical dilemmas are perceived and prioritised were identified.
3. 03Findings challenge the assumption that a single universal ethical framework applies across audiology practice settings.
4. 04Results have implications for international audiology education and professional code development.
5. 05Study design was comparative and cross-sectional across two distinct cultural/regulatory contexts.

PMID

42775955

DOI

10.21091/jah.2026.03051.

Journal

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

3

Population

Audiologists from MENA Arabic-speaking countries and the United States

Intervention

Comparative survey of ethical sensitivity and responses to ethical dilemmas

Comparator

US audiologists vs. MENA audiologists