Ear and hearing outcomes in Aboriginal infants living in an urban Australian area: the birth cohort study.

Objective: Describe the ear and hearing outcomes in Aboriginal infants in an Australian urban area.

Design: Aboriginal infants enrolled in the prospective cohort study had ear health screenings at ages 2-4, 6-8 and 12-18 months and audiological assessment at ∼12 months of age. Sociodemographic, environmental characteristics, otoscopy, otoacoustic emissions, tympanometry and visual reinforcement audiometry data were collected.

Ear Portal: An urban-based ear, nose, and throat, and audiology referral telehealth portal to improve access to specialist ear health services for children.

Introduction: Shortage of ear, nose, and throat specialists in public hospitals can result in delays in the detection and management of otitis media. This study introduced a new hospital-based telehealth service, named the Ear Portal, and investigated its role in improving access to specialist care.

Methods: The study included 87 children (aged 6 months to 6 years) referred to a tertiary children's hospital due to otitis media-related concerns.

The reliability of video otoscopy recordings and still images in the asynchronous diagnosis of middle-ear disease.

Objective: To compare the asynchronous assessment of video otoscopic still images to recordings by an audiologist and ear, nose and throat surgeon (ENT) for diagnostic reliability and agreement in identifying middle-ear disease.

Design: A prospective cross-sectional study, asynchronously assessing video otoscopy, tympanometry and case history (Dx1). A subset was re-diagnosed (Dx2).

Early detection of hearing loss for infants in Western Australia: Comparison to international benchmarks.

Aim: To assess the degree to which timely audiological assessment of congenital hearing loss is achieved at our institution - Perth Children's Hospital, Western Australia, and to review cases which breached this timeframe in order to address barriers to timely assessment. The benchmark used to determine timely assessment is that set out by The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) in which diagnostic audiological testing occurs by three months of age for those who do not pass newborn hearing screening.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of infants who underwent diagnostic auditory assessment at Perth Children's Hospital between 2016-2019.

Validation of teleaudiology hearing aid rehabilitation services for adults: a systematic review of outcome measurement tools.

Purpose: To investigate outcome measurement tools for the validation of teleaudiology hearing aid rehabilitation services for adults.

Methods: A search strategy was developed to identify tools used to evaluate standard and teleaudiology hearing aid rehabilitation services for adults. A seven-domain hearing-health-care service model for validation was defined and used to analyse the applicability and suitability of patient- and service-centred tools.

Clinician-rated quality of video otoscopy recordings and still images for the asynchronous assessment of middle-ear disease.

Introduction: Video otoscopy plays an important role in improving access to ear health services. This study investigated the clinician-rated quality of video otoscopy recordings and still images, and compared their suitability for asynchronous diagnosis of middle-ear disease.

Methods: Two hundred and eighty video otoscopy image-recording pairs were collected from 150 children (aged six months to 15 years) by an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist, audiologists, and trained research assistants, and independently rated by an audiologist and ENT surgeon.

Teleaudiology hearing aid fitting follow-up consultations for adults: single blinded crossover randomised control trial and cohort studies.

Objective: To evaluate and compare the effectiveness and quality of standard face-to-face and teleaudiology hearing aid fitting follow-up consultations and blended services for adult hearing aid users.

Design And Study Sample: Fifty-six participants were randomly allocated to two equal groups, with equal numbers of new and experienced users. One standard and one teleaudiology follow-up consultation were delivered by an audiologist, the latter assisted by a facilitator.

Cochrane corner: interventions to prevent hearing loss caused by noise at work.

This Cochrane Corner features "Interventions to prevent hearing loss caused by noise at work", published in 2017. The aim of this Cochrane Review was to find out if hearing loss caused by noise at work is being prevented by current interventions. Tikka et al.

Teleaudiology Services for Rehabilitation With Hearing Aids in Adults: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: This review examined (a) the current evidence from studies on teleaudiology applications for rehabilitation of adults with hearing impairment with hearing aids and (b) whether it is sufficient to support the translation into routine clinical practice.

Method: A search strategy and eligibility criteria were utilized to include articles specifically related to hearing aid fitting and follow-up procedures that are involved in consultations for the rehabilitation of adults, where the service was provided by the clinician by teleaudiology. A search using key words and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) was conducted on the main electronic databases that index health-related studies.

Asynchronous interpretation of manual and automated audiometry: Agreement and reliability.

Introduction Remote interpretation of automated audiometry offers the potential to enable asynchronous tele-audiology assessment and diagnosis in areas where synchronous tele-audiometry may not be possible or practical. The aim of this study was to compare remote interpretation of manual and automated audiometry. Methods Five audiologists each interpreted manual and automated audiograms obtained from 42 patients.