Cranford (audiology and hearing science, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center) offers a text for an introductory audiology course for non-background speech-language pathology graduate students with limited undergraduate coursework in the field of audiology and its basic science precursors. With chapters on the physics of sound, the auditory nervous system, and the psychoacoustic laboratory, the first section of the book explains the basic scientific information that speech-language pathologists need in order to under audiologists' verbal and written reports. The rest of the book describes the behavioral, electrophysiological, and physiological tests that audiologists use to assess hearing problems. Simple b&w anatomical illustrations are included. The text assumes little or no prior knowledge of the basic or clinical sciences that underlie the field of audiology. Since the author uses nontechnical and layman's terms, the book can also be used by parents, relatives, and significant others of patients with hearing impairments. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)