Teleaudiology: evaluation of teleconsultation efficacy for hearing aid fittings

The aim of this study was to evaluate teleconsultation´s efficacy for hearing aid (HA) fittings. 50 hearing impaired individuals with age ranging from 39 to 88 years and ISO mean of audiometric thresholds between 30 and 68,7 dBHL participated in this study. The participants were divided in two groups by means of randomized stratification: control group or active group (n=25), submitted to face to face procedures and experimental or intervention group(n=25), submitted to synchronous teleconsultation with interactive video and remote application control. Following the consultations, an evaluator, blinded regarding the groups, performed the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT-Brazil). Nearly a month following the consultations, this evaluator analyzed the daily time of HA use (datalogging) and administered the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA). In order to evaluate the teleconsultation’s efficacy, the following elements were analyzed and compared to face to face procedures: - the time for hearing aid programming, for real ear measurements and for the orientation - the total time of the face to face and teleconsultation’s procedures - the results of real ear measurements - the HINT results - the IOI-HA results - the datalogging analyses The difference between the face to face and the teleconsultation procedures was that in the second one, the procedures for hearing aid programming, real ear measurements and orientation were conducted by means the remote control of the devices. The Polycom PVX version 8.0.2 software was used to make the remote control and for the videoconferencing. The audiologist whit experience in the procedures for hearing aid fitting was 300 meters away from the test environment. The procedures were facilitated by a graduate student or professional without experience in the hearing aid fitting. The facilitator followed the procedures and informed the audiologist about problems that could happen during the teleconsultation. Just after the face to face and teleconsultation procedures, an evaluator, blinded regarging to the procedures, carried out the HINT test. After a month of the procedures, the blinded evaluator asses the IOI-HA questionnaire and the hearing aid’s datalogging. It was just one session for one hour and a half for both groups.