Abstract
BackgroundThe limited involvement of audiologists in occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) management through hearing conservation programmes (HCPs) is a global issue. In low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries such as South Africa, this is also exacerbated by demand versus capacity challenges. Tele-audiology is an option requiring serious deliberation by the audiology community within HCPs in LAMI contexts.ObjectivesThis scoping review explores if tele-audiology has a potential value in HCPs and reviews what has been documented in the literature on the use of tele-audiology in HCPs.MethodA scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. A search was conducted in five electronic bibliographic databases including Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus Medline, ProQuest and Google Scholar and the grey literature to identify publications presenting considerations around tele-audiology in the implementation of HCPs.ResultsFindings revealed significant dearth of evidence specific to the use or application of tele-audiology in ONIHL and/or HCPs both within the African context and internationally, despite the purported potential benefit of this service delivery model, particularly in resource-constrained contexts such as LAMI countries. Of the publications deemed potentially relevant to this scoping review, none were found that specifically investigated or addressed the use of tele-audiology in ONIHL or HCPs as their main objective. Nuanced analysis of publications revealed that in the last decade, indication for potential growth in the use of tele-audiology within occupational audiology is indicated.ConclusionBecause of the significant demand versus capacity challenges in LAMI countries, and because of the need for scaling up audiology professionals’ management of HCPs, careful consideration of teleaudiology as a platform to deliver services in these contexts is required.
Highlights
Employees in the mining and several other industries contract various occupational health medical conditions, with occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) being one among them (Lie, Skogstad, Johnsen, Engdahl, & Tambs, 2015)
The current review was directed by the following question: ‘does tele-audiology have a potential value in hearing conservation programmes (HCPs) and what has been documented in the literature on the use of tele-audiology in HCPs?’ This question was guided by the prevailing demand versus capacity challenges in low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries, and the researchers wanted to conduct this review in order to synthesise available evidence so as to map the literature on tele-audiology and HCPs and gain access to an opportunity to identify gaps in the evidence, and types and sources of evidence to inform training, practice, policy-making and research– as advised by Daudt, Van Mossel and Scott (2013) on the value of scoping reviews
The research question for this scoping review was as follows: ‘does tele-audiology have a potential value in HCPs and 27 records idenƟfied through database searching
Summary
Employees in the mining and several other industries contract various occupational health medical conditions, with occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) (reviewed in Rawool, 2011) being one among them (Lie, Skogstad, Johnsen, Engdahl, & Tambs, 2015) This condition presents as a permanent sensorineural hearing loss as a consequence of exposure to hazardous or excessive levels of noise during the performance of one’s occupational duties (Nelson, Nelson, ConchaBarrientos, & Fingerhut, 2005; Thorne, 2006). 3) asserts that disabling hearing loss is the ‘most prevalent, least recognised and least understood physical disability’ This view is supported by Copley and Frederichs (2010) as well as Hermanus (2007) who argue that permanent disabling hearing loss is a major contributor to the global burden of disease for individuals, families, communities and countries. Tele-audiology is an option requiring serious deliberation by the audiology community within HCPs in LAMI contexts
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