The impact of COVID-19 on provision of UK audiology services & on attitudes towards delivery of telehealth services

Abstract

Objective: To (i) identify the impact of COVID-19 on provision of UK audiology services across sectors (ii) compare teleaudiology service provision between private and public sectors before and after the introduction of restrictions and (iii) identify barriers to teleaudiology delivery amongst UK hearing care professionals in both sectors. Design: A mixed-methods cross-sectional survey study design. Responses to the structured questionnaire were analysed using descriptive and non-parametric statistics. Study Sample: UK based hearing care professionals (HCP) (n ¼ 323) completed the survey (218 public sector; 89 private sector). Results: Changes in working patterns varied greatly between different sectors, with 61% of national employed and 26% of independent HCPs being furloughed, compared with 1% in the public sector. Use of telehealth was under-utilised across all sectors and groups in UK hearing healthcare, despite 92% of public and 75% of private HCPs reporting feeling comfortable conducting remote consultations. Conclusion:This study highlights a variation in teleaudiology adoption and key barriers across sector in the UK. A collaborative approach between hearing device manufacturers, research centres, HCPs and professional bodies is required for the creation of targeted guidance and training materials according to sector, to support clinicians in effective teleaudiology provision.

Is Teleaudiology Achieving Person-Centered Care: A Review

“…Data were extracted from seven studies: five research studies [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], one review [ 36 ] and one case study [ 37 ]. The identified studies ranged from 2010 to April 2022, with one per year from 2019 to 2022, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, forcing many audiology clinicians to adopt or consider accepting teleaudiology as part of their potential clinic service offerings [ 32 ]. It should be noted that Behl et al [ 37 ] were describing a pediatric case study in the United States.…”

“…Meyer et al provided the greatest detail regarding the tasks for which teleaudiology could be used, and this information was collected from people with hearing impairment and their significant others, and as such this paper may be the most representative of actual teleaudiology use [ 34 ]. There was evidence of all degrees of autonomy being used across the papers [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], which provided a balance in how much control the person with hearing impairment can be given, but the phases of intervention in which teleaudiology were used were heavily concentrated in the rehabilitation [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ] and general phases [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ] ( Table 4 ).…”

“…Despite self-assessment or self-fit or programming of hearing aids being well established in audiological care [ 5 ], there was only one mention of autonomy for the immediate intervention tasks described, and it focused on describing what those with hearing impairment and their support network would like [ 35 ]. Taken together, this highlights a gap between methods that have been rigorously validated for common use [ 29 ], and yet still evade being common practice [ 32 ].…”

Alternative Pathways for Hearing Care May Address Disparities in Access

“…The coronavirus pandemic, which has significantly disrupted access to clinic-based health care, has increased the need for alternative models of hearing care, particularly those that incorporate an online or tele-audiology component. As evidenced in the UK during the pandemic, there remain both provider-and patient-side barriers to delivering tele-audiology services (37). The purpose of this analysis is to better inform the planning for increasing access to hearing care at a time when the existing model is already undergoing substantial change.…”

Evaluating Spatial Hearing Using a Dual-Task Approach in a Virtual-Acoustics Environment

“…Additionally, this test require a face-to-face visit. The constraints imposed by the current COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the development and adoption of tele-audiology practices ( Ayas et al, 2020 ; Saunders and Roughley, 2020 ; Parmar et al, 2021 ). Remote-health applications that enable users to complete diagnostic tests and submit them to their clinical departments are very much in demand.…”