Audiology – The Fusion of Technology and Healthcare

All medical professions are impacted by advances in technology.  But a Doctor of Audiology must constantly balance healthcare and technology to best serve their patients.  In a clinical setting, audiologists must have great skills as a diagnostician.  But once the diagnosis is made, they must know all the current technology available to turn a hearing loss into a hearing opportunity.

Teleaudiology is Technology and Healthcare

There has been considerable interest in the field of tele-health or e-health.  This form of healthcare delivery allows a patient in one location to receive services from a provider in a different location.  The two can be hundreds of miles apart.  We think of this use of technology as appropriate for reaching people in remote areas.  But, it can have application in urban areas for people with limited mobility as well.

As a demonstration in 2009, an audiologist in Dallas, Texas performed a diagnostic audiometry evaluation on a patient in Preoria, South Africa.  The demonstration was part of a meeting of the American Academy of Audiology.  The purpose of the demonstration was to show how communication technology could be used to assist the work of an audiologist in new and exciting ways. 

Now it is possible to program and adjust hearing aids from hundreds of miles away as well.  No longer must the patient travel to the audiologist.  This represents a tremendous advance in access.

Although teleaudiology is still considered primarily for underserved populations, it is becoming more common.  So, in addition to advances in audiology, an audiologist must keep up with information and communication technology as well.

Improved Screening Improves Outcomes 

Improved screening techniques have lead to advances in the medical diagnosis of hearing disorders.  Auditory brainstem response testing can be performed on hard-to-serve populations and infants as well.  That means that now no one is “too young to test.”  Especially with children, early testing is crucial to obtain the best outcomes from treatment.

Other medical advances such as otoacoustic emissions testing allow audiologists to get better information about the hearing nerves and more accurately identify the cause of hearing loss.

More accurate and complete diagnosis leads to better rehabilitation services such as custom-programmed hearing aids, individually tailored speech training, and appropriate assistive listening devices.

Improved Hearing Aids and Other Devices 

Behind every great hearing aid is an audiologist that was dedicated to making a superior product.  Audiologists work for hearing aid manufacturers to design better hearing aids.  They look to make sound clearer, the product smaller, and devices that are smarter.  These developers have the mind of the tinkerer and the heart of a healer.  While these audiologists may geek out on technology, their concern is improving the quality of life for the user.

Whether it is in the clinical or research setting, audiology continues to be a science that melds together healthcare and technology.