Audiology telepractice in a clinical environment: a communication perspective.

Access to adequate hearing health care is an obstacle that many individuals face worldwide. The prospect of providing audiology services via the Internet is an attractive and viable alternative to traditional face-to-face interaction between patients and audiologists, thus affording improved access to hearing health care for traditionally underserved populations. This article details our experience of using a web-based system with wireless audiometers and videoconferencing software to administer remote audiological assessments in an active medical practice. It discusses the technological infrastructure used and the pragmatic issues that arise when the Internet, Bluetooth wireless audiometers, and videoconferencing devices are converged into a clinical setting. Patients at a local office of otolaryngologists were recruited to participate in a study in which remote assessment results were compared to those collected from a traditional face-to-face assessment. Preliminary data demonstrated that the assessment results from the two sources were comparable. We conclude that remote hearing assessment over the Internet can be achieved through a distributed system synthesized with Internet, wireless communication, and videoconferencing technologies, supported by appropriate staff.