The Financing of Hearing Care: What We Can Learn from MarkeTrak 2022.

The "cost" of hearing aids has been a perceived key driver of the uptake, or lack thereof, of hearing aids. The MarkeTrak 2022 survey included questions that focused on the cost of the hearing test and amplification devices, out-of-pocket expenses, third-party coverage, and the perceived value of the devices. The hearing test itself was perceived as a barrier for some as the expense of the visit or the lack of third-party coverage was often cited as a reason for not following through on a recommendation to get a test.

Future States for Hearing Care.

Evolutionary changes occur across health care, including within the hearing care delivery system. At times, the change is driven by external forces and thus elicits a reactive response. In contrast, developing a vision of a future state, and subsequently the strategies to achieve that vision, is a proactive and a preferred process.

Increasing Pediatric Audiology Services via Telehealth.

Telehealth as a means to deliver health care services has been used by physicians for many years, but the use of telehealth in audiology, specifically in pediatrics, has been minimal. Barriers such as licensure, reimbursement, technology, and equipment have been cited as reasons for audiologists not participating in telehealth. However, the COVID-19 pandemic created the need for telehealth services to be widely used to safely increase access to healthcare, and emergent orders helped reduce previous barriers so that audiologists could participate in telehealth service delivery.

Stories From the Webcams: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Audiology Telehealth and Pediatric Auditory Device Services.

Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the regulatory, technological, and training considerations for audiologists investigating telehealth and to offer some examples of audiology services provided through telehealth.

Method: The authors presented the regulatory components, the technology required for audiology staff and patients, and staff training for the audiology telehealth program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Four case studies highlighting the successful use of telehealth in providing auditory device services to patients were also presented.

Outcomes of Hearing Aid Use by Individuals with Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss (USNHL).

Background: Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (USNHL) can have a negative impact on functions associated with the advantages of balanced, binaural hearing. Although single-sided deafness, which is a complete loss of audibility in one ear, has gained increased interest in the published research, there is a gap in the literature concerning hearing aid outcomes for individuals with residual, or otherwise "aidable," hearing in the affected ear.

Purpose: To assess hearing aid outcomes for a group of individuals with USNHL with residual, aidable function.

Patient Complexity Charge Matrix for Audiology Services: A New Perspective on Unbundling.

Traditional approaches to unbundling hearing aid services often take existing bundled charges and then separate the charges across all potential services associated with dispensing the devices. However, this method results in every patient being charged the same amount even though the complexity of the service varies across patients. We describe a model of charging for hearing aid services that takes into account three elements associated with patient services (i.

Academic programs, class sizes, and obstacles to growth in audiology.

Background: Over the past 25 yr, the number of academic programs in audiology has been cut by half, yet there continue to be calls for further reductions in the number of programs. Reducing the number of programs potentially affects the number of graduates and therefore could impact the availability of audiologists in the future. There is a question as to whether academic programs in audiology could accommodate more students.

Demand for audiology services: 30-yr projections and impact on academic programs.

Background: Significant growth in the U.S. population over the next 30 yr will likely increase the demand for hearing-care services.

The status of diagnostic testing following referral from universal newborn hearing screening.

The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing 2000 position statement includes guidelines for the development of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention programs. These guidelines provide specific recommendations for the audiologic test battery for infants who fail a newborn infant hearing screening. The recommended test battery includes electrophysiologic measures such as the ABR, frequency specific electrophysiologic tests, bone-conducted ABR, OAEs, tympanometry using high frequency probe stimuli, and acoustic reflexes.

A comparison of entrance and graduation requirements for the Au.D. with other first professional degrees.

Over the past several years there has been increasing reference to the Doctor of Audiology degree (Au.D.) as a "first professional degree.

The University of Louisville: the AuD in a medical and business environment.

The audiology program at the University of Louisville is located in the city's medical complex, which houses the university's health-related programs, 5 acute care hospitals, and 1 rehabilitation hospital. The audiology program has a variety of clinical sites that expose students to broad-based clinical environments, patient populations, and instructional opportunities. The presence of university faculty and staff within these clinics assures that students have consistent educational development.