Is an audiologist the best medical professional to trust with my hearing care?

It is best to go see your physician to see if he/she can refer you to an audiologist. And yes audiologist are the best to talk to about hearing because they specialize in that field of studying the anatomy of the ears. Physicians would have a general knowledge in that field. I say go to the physician first because you could have a ear infection that caused hearing lost, so he can check. Then he/she would refer you to the audiologist.

Skip the PCP and go right to the audiologist- PCPs can't judge an ear infection like an audiologist can because audiologists have tympanometers to look for fluid and infection behind the ear. Also- they look at eardrums all day... they will be able to tell you what is causing the loss of hearing and know whether to send you to the ENT physician. The ENT can't tell you how much hearing loss you have without the audiologist's testing.

If you have ear pain as well, it may be good to first see an ENT doctor, but if it is mainly hearing loss, go to audiologists. That's what they specialize in. Of course however, you just need to find a good audiologists; like anything else they have good and bad ones.

An audiologist is a doctor whose specialty is hearing--I would see one of them--this is where they have the most training, and will be able to help you most.