Hearing Health Care and COVID: Obstacles, Radical Changes, and Reasons for Optimism

Purpose This clinical focus article provides an overview of clinical models currently being used for the provision of comprehensive aural rehabilitation (AR) for adults with cochlear implants (CIs) in the Unites States. Method Clinical AR models utilized by hearing health care providers from nine clinics across the United States were discussed with regard to interprofessional AR practice patterns in the adult CI population. The clinical models were presented in the context of existing knowledge and gaps in the literature. Future directions were proposed for optimizing the provision of AR for the adult CI patient population. Findings/Conclusions There is a general agreement that AR is an integral part of hearing health care for adults with CIs. While the provision of AR is feasible in different clinical practice settings, service delivery models are variable across hearing health care professionals and settings. AR may include interprofessional collaboration among surgeons, audiologists, and speech-language pathologists with varying roles based on the characteristics of a particular setting. Despite various existing barriers, the clinical practice patterns identified here provide a starting point toward a more standard approach to comprehensive AR for adults with CIs.

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Universal Hearing Health Care: Where Do Audiology and Hearing Aids Fit?

ASHA Leader ◽

10.1044/leader.wb1.13172008.14 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 13 (17) ◽

pp. 14-15

Author(s):

George T. Mencher

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hearing Aids ◽

Hearing Health

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Computational Audiology: New Approaches to Advance Hearing Health Care in the Digital Age

10.31234/osf.io/hu8eg ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jan-Willem Wasmann ◽

Cris Lanting ◽

Wendy Huinck ◽

Emmanuel Mylanus ◽

Jeroen van der Laak ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Digital Transformation ◽

Care Providers ◽

Shared Data ◽

Care Services ◽

Source Models ◽

Hearing Health ◽

Improve Access

The global digital transformation enables computational audiology for advanced clinical applications that have the potential to impact the global burden of hearing loss. In this paper we describe emerging hearing-related artificial intelligence applications and argue for their potential to improve access, precision and efficiency of hearing health care services. In addition, we raise awareness of risks that must be addressed to enable a safe digital transformation in audiology. We envision a future where computational audiology is implemented via open-source models using interoperable shared data and where health care providers adopt new roles within a network of distributed expertise. All of this should take place in a health care system where privacy, the responsibility of each stakeholder and, most importantly, the safety and autonomy of patients are all guarded by design.

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Promoting healthy hearing over the lifespan

Auditory and Vestibular Research ◽

10.18502/avr.v30i2.6092 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

James W. Hall III

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hearing Loss ◽

Test Battery ◽

Patient Specific ◽

Comorbid Conditions ◽

Specific Test ◽

Age Related ◽

Central Auditory Function ◽

Hearing Health ◽

Age Related Hearing Loss

Background and Aim: Comorbid conditions and unhealthy lifestyles are risk factors for auditory dysfunction, including age-related hearing loss. With a focus on adults, this paper describes a new approach to hearing health care that aims to prevent or mitigate hearing loss and related disorders, like tinnitus. Accurate diagnosis and effective management of hearing loss is best achieved with a patient-specific test battery that includes sensitive measures of peripheral and central auditory function. Background and Aim: Comorbid conditions and unhealthy lifestyles are risk factors for auditory dysfunction, including age-related hearing loss. With a focus on adults, this paper describes a new approach to hearing health care that aims to prevent or mitigate hearing loss and related disorders, like tinnitus. Accurate diagnosis and effective management of hearing loss is best achieved with a patient-specific test battery that includes sensitive measures of peripheral and central auditory function. Conclusion: The traditional model for hearing health care service delivery relies on a rather outdated and simplistic protocol for evaluating and describing hearing loss, and a technologyfocused approach for management. This paper offers an evidence-based rationale for expanding the test battery for diagnosing hearing loss, and a multidisciplinary intervention approach. Keywords: Comorbid conditions; smoking; diet; value-added tests

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Online Consumer Reviews on Hearing Health Care Services: A Textual Analysis Approach to Examine Psychologically Meaningful Language Dimensions

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2021_aja-20-00223 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Vinaya Manchaiah ◽

De Wet Swanepoel ◽

Rebecca J. Bennett

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Free Text ◽

Consumer Reviews ◽

Social And Emotional ◽

Online Consumer Reviews ◽

Care Services ◽

Hearing Health ◽

Time Awareness

Purpose The study examined psychologically meaningful language dimensions (i.e., social and emotional dimensions, health dimensions, and personal concerns) within online consumer reviews on hearing health care services using an automated textual analysis approach. Method Nine thousand six hundred twenty-two consumer reviews of hearing health care services, including an open-ended question (i.e., free text response to the prompt “share details of your own experience at this place”) and an overall rating (on a 5-point scale ranging from “very good” to “very poor”) were extracted from Google.com from 40 different cities across the United States. In addition, some metadata about the cities (i.e., region, population size, median age, percentage of older adults) were also recorded. Text responses were analyzed using the automated Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software for selected language dimensions. The language dimensions of online hearing health care reviews were descriptively compared with language dimensions observed in the natural language of typical bloggers. Language dimensions from free text responses were correlated with quantitative overall experience ratings. Results Automated linguistic analysis showed that consumer reviews on hearing health care services had higher social processes, positive emotions, hearing, health, money, and work, and lower negative emotions and time-awareness when compared to typical bloggers. Examining the association between overall experience rating and the language dimensions reveled two broad findings. First, higher engagement of consumers in terms of social processes, positive emotions, hearing, and work dimensions was related to higher experience ratings. Second, higher engagement of consumers in terms of negative emotions, time awareness, and money was related to lower experience ratings. Conclusions Online reviews contain information about various dimensions (i.e., social and emotional dimensions as well as personal concerns) that have bearing toward the way in that they rate their health care experiences. Automated linguistic analysis of consumer reviews appears helpful in identifying gaps in service delivery that may influence consumer experience.

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7 Tips to Maintain Hearing Health Care Amid COVID-19

The Hearing Journal ◽

10.1097/01.hj.0000666420.05187.4e ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 73 (5) ◽

pp. 10

Author(s):

Shari Eberts

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hearing Health

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Auditory Risk to Unprotected Bystanders Exposed to Firearm Noise

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology ◽

10.3766/jaaa.22.2.4 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (02) ◽

pp. 093-103 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Gregory A. Flamme ◽

Michael Stewart ◽

Deanna Meinke ◽

James Lankford ◽

Per Rasmussen

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hearing Loss ◽

Data Collection ◽

Descriptive Study ◽

Poor Agreement ◽

Acoustic Characteristics ◽

Sound Levels ◽

Data Collection And Analysis ◽

Hearing Health ◽

Damage Risk

Background: What is the risk of hearing loss for someone standing next to a shooter? Friends, spouses, children, and other shooters are often present during hunting and recreational shooting activities, and these bystanders seem likely to underestimate the hazard posed by noise from someone else's firearm. Hunters use hearing protection inconsistently, and there is little reason to expect higher use rates among bystanders. Acoustic characteristics and estimates of auditory risk from gunfire noise next to the shooter were assessed in this study. Research Design: This was a descriptive study of auditory risk at the position of a bystander near a recreational firearm shooter. Data Collection and Analysis: Recordings of impulses from 15 recreational firearms were obtained 1 m to the left of the shooter outdoors away from reflective surfaces. Recordings were made using a pressure-calibrated 1/4 inch measurement microphone and digitally sampled at 195 kHz (24 bit depth). The acoustic characteristics of these impulses were examined, and auditory risk estimates were obtained using three contemporary damage-risk criteria (DRCs) for unprotected listeners. Results: Instantaneous peak levels at the bystander location ranged between 149 and 167 dB SPL, and 8 hr equivalent continuous levels (LeqA8) ranged between 64 and 83 dB SPL. Poor agreement was obtained across the three DRCs, and the DRC that was most conservative varied with the firearm. The most conservative DRC for each firearm permitted no unprotected exposures to most rifle impulses and fewer than 10 exposures to impulses from most shotguns and the single handgun included in this study. More unprotected exposures were permitted for the guns with smaller cartridges and longer barrel length. Conclusions: None of the recreational firearms included in this study produced sound levels that would be considered safe for all unprotected listeners. The DRCs revealed that only a few of the small-caliber rifles and the smaller-gauge shotguns permitted more than a few shots for the average unprotected listener. This finding is important for professionals involved in hearing health care and the shooting sports because laypersons are likely to consider the bystander location to be inherently less risky because it is farther from the gun than the shooter.

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