Parents’ perceptions of tele-audiological testing in a rural hearing screening program in South India

Abstract Introduction Tele-diagnostic audiological testing in a hearing screening program for infants and young children is a novel practice, and this study is the first to explore its application in a rural community. It is important to understand parental perceptions and confidence when introducin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology 2016-10, Vol.89, p.60-66
Main Authors: Ramkumar, Vidya, Dr, Selvakumar, K., Dr, Vanaja, C.S., Dr, Hall, James W., Dr, Nagarajan, Roopa, Prof, Neethi, J., Ms
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Adolescent
Adult
Attitude to Health
Child
Community-based hearing screening
Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem
Female
Hearing Tests - methods
Humans
India
Male
Otolaryngology
Parent perception
Parents
Patient Satisfaction
Pediatrics
Quality
Remote Consultation
Rural Population
Surveys and Questionnaires
Tele-diagnostic hearing testing
Video-conferencing
Videoconferencing
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Introduction Tele-diagnostic audiological testing in a hearing screening program for infants and young children is a novel practice, and this study is the first to explore its application in a rural community. It is important to understand parental perceptions and confidence when introducing a new process such as tele-audiological diagnostic testing in rural areas. Method A questionnaire with 17 rater-administered items was designed to elicit comments concerning the quality of tele-hearing testing and video-conferencing, access to tele-hearing testing, and parents’ attitudes regarding tele-hearing testing in the village. The questionnaire was administered by an audiologist not involved in tele-diagnostic testing to avoid bias. Results Parents perceived tele-hearing testing as equal in quality to in-person testing. Technical factors such as good video-conferencing quality and logistical factors such as ease of access due to reasonable travel time to testing facility could have influenced these perceptions. Conclusions While these results show tele-hearing testing is an acceptable alternative, occasional poor signal quality should be addressed prior to large-scale implementation.
ISSN:0165-5876
1872-8464
DOI:10.1016/j.ijporl.2016.07.028