It is declared to be the policy of the Commonwealth that the practice of speech-language pathology and the practice of audiology are privileges granted to qualified persons and that, in order to safeguard the public health, safety and welfare; to protect the public from being misled or receiving nonmedical treatment by incompetent, unscrupulous and unauthorized persons; to protect the public from unprofessional conduct by qualified speech-language pathologists and audiologists ; and to assure the availability of the highest possible quality of speech-language pathology and audiology services to the people of this Commonwealth, it is necessary to provide regulatory authority over persons offering speech-language pathology and audiology services to the public.
63 P.S. § 1702