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10/09/2015  |   9:45 AM - 11:00 AM   |  Andrew Foster Auditorium

Tele-audiology in Africa: The Story Evolves

Audiologists who wish to assist with reducing the burden of hearing loss in Africa no longer need to leave the comfort of their own home, office or country. Clinicians in developing countries are facing the daily reality of a growing disparity between population growth and a critical shortage of hearing healthcare professionals. In these environments, the viability of tele-audiology assessments and remote hearing aid fittings is being evaluated with urgency as a way to reach populations currently unable to access hearing healthcare services. Although a number of studies and articles have documented the application of telehealth for audiology screening and diagnosis (of which many have reported equivalent results to conventional audiology), the clinical application of audiological intervention remains a relatively uncharted terrain. Sound Seekers continues to seek clinically creative solutions by exploring the use of m-health and tele-health equipment and methods to ensure that high standards of hearing healthcare are achieved and sustained at under resourced African project sites. This presentation aims to share the current status of their tele-audiology services in Zambia, including feedback regarding minimum requirements, clinicial protocols, potential pitfalls and potential future solutions. Future plans regarding the use of international volunteers to provide remote assessments and hearing aid fittings will be discussed, as well as the possibility of introducing combined tele-ENT/Audiology sessions.

• Understand and differentiate between the terms tele-health and m-Health, with particular relevance to the field of audiology
• Exposure to real-life example of how tele-audiology can be applied in an under resourced setting which requires hearing healthcare assistance, with understanding of minimum requirements, clinical protocols, potential pitfalls and future solutions

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Shannon O'Leary (née Kruyt) (POC,Primary Presenter), HearInAfrica, shannon@hearinafrica.com;
Shannon is an audiologist and speech/language pathologist born and bred in Cape Town, South Africa. Having worked in a diverse range of private and public healthcare environments across Africa and in the United Kingdom, Shannon is passionate about improving community-based audiology services. Her main focus is on the crisis of hearing loss in Africa and the associated shortage of audiologists on the continent. She is the owner of HearInAfrica, an independent centre of audiology excellence, which provides a range of conventional and community-based hearing healthcare services. Shannon has a particular interest in tele-audiology and enjoys creating new clinical models to better serve under resourced communities across Africa.