Associate Professor, Department of audiology and speech language pathology, Kasturba medical college Mangalore, Manipal academy of higher education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
Int Tinnitus J. 2022 Mar 3;25(2):137-142. doi: 10.5935/0946-5448.20210025.
As the incidence of vestibular disorders continues to rise, the role of the audiologists in assessing and providing effective intervention has become increasingly important. To date, there have been no studies investigating the practice patterns of Indian audiologists towards the assessment and management of vestibular disorders.
An electronic survey consisting of 29 questions across demographics, vestibular assessment, and management emailed to 704 members of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association (ISHA). Additionally, the questionnaire was circulated to audiologists through social media groups. The participants were provided with a two weeks' time limit for completing the survey.
704 participants were contacted to take part in the survey, and only 243 responses were received resulting in a 34.66 % response rate. Among the 243 participants who responded, 127 participants were currently not involved in the assessment and/or management of vestibular disorders in India. The responses were analyzed descriptively according to each section of the questionnaire. The study also sheds light on vestibular assessment, rehabilitation trends, and perceived barriers/facilitators among Indian audiologists.
We observed major discrepancies between practice patterns of audiologists in India. Like any other developing nation, India has challenges of its own. Proper planning in terms of resource allocation is needed to address the barriers in access to instrumentation, and limited workforce.
随着前庭障碍发病率的不断上升，听力学家在评估和提供有效干预方面的作用变得越来越重要。迄今为止，还没有研究调查印度听力学家在评估和管理前庭障碍方面的实践模式。
一项包含 29 个问题的电子调查，涵盖人口统计学、前庭评估和管理，通过电子邮件发送给印度言语和听力协会 (ISHA) 的 704 名成员。此外，还通过社交媒体群组向听力学家分发了问卷。参与者有两周的时间完成调查。
联系了 704 名参与者参与调查，但仅收到 243 份回复，回复率为 34.66%。在 243 名做出回应的参与者中，有 127 名目前没有参与印度前庭障碍的评估和/或管理。根据问卷的每个部分对回复进行了描述性分析。该研究还揭示了印度听力学家在前庭评估、康复趋势以及感知到的障碍/促进因素方面的情况。
我们观察到印度听力学家的实践模式存在很大差异。像任何其他发展中国家一样，印度也有自己的挑战。需要进行适当的资源分配规划，以解决仪器设备获取和劳动力有限方面的障碍。
