What is it about?
The purpose of this clinical focus article is to convey the significant role that mobile audiology could have in the public health space and discuss how mobile audiology can overcome obstacles that hinder access to traditional audiological care. This article also introduces strategies for delivering innovative audiological care.
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Why is it important?
Mobile audiology services may play a vital role in public health programs and initiatives by bringing hearing health care to underserved communities, promoting accessibility, and addressing hearing health care concerns that disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. Mobile audiology services extend beyond the conventional concept of service delivery and can reduce barriers that prevent access to hearing health care, such as lack of transportation, geographical conditions/distance, time, lack of insurance coverage for evaluation/treatment, lack of qualified hearing health professionals, and financial constraints. Various services can be offered through mobile audiology, such as comprehensive screenings, diagnostic evaluations, and rehabilitation services/interventions. Mobile audiology services provide patients with the intervention necessary to improve communication abilities, quality of life, and overall health care outcomes.
Perspectives
During the pandemic, the need for mobile healthcare services became evident. My colleague and I built mobile hearing healthcare units to help address the barriers preventing access to quality hearing care. Writing this article was a great pleasure for the co-authors, as they were able to bridge the clinical application of mobile service delivery with meeting needs in the public health space. Our goal is to help other audiologists and perhaps other medical subspecialists think outside of the walls of traditional healthcare to expand their services to vulnerable populations. It is our hope that readers are inspired and empowered to think of innovative ways to provide health care for all.
Carla Smiley
American Speech Language Hearing Association
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Navigating the Role of Mobile Audiology in Public Health: Overcoming Hearing Health Care Barriers That Impact the Underserved, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, August 2024, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2024_persp-23-00169.
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