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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.
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.
The use of technology is beneficial to the healthcare area. Among the improvements it can provide is the tele-health, which allows people from remote areas to contact a health care provider.