Far greater than just a social distancing tool, telehealth is changing the way we’re able to care for you and your family.
In these unprecedented times of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, many health care workers are turning to telehealth—the convergence of telecommunication (phone calls, video chats, text messages) and health—primarily to suppress the spread of the virus while still providing health care.
Though the benefits of this invaluable tool go way beyond combatting infectious diseases. Bridging all long-distant patient gaps, lack of transport, mobility, economic status, restricted staff—the list is plentiful. Add to that improvements in practice efficiency and overall patient satisfaction, and it’s a win-win for all involved.
Zooming in on audiological care, telehealth, or teleaudiology as it’s known in the hearing world, enables patients to connect with audiologists from the comfort of their own homes via computer equipment. Furthermore, in combination with technological advancements in hearing aids themselves, smartphone apps allow audiologists to actually program and adjust hearing aids remotely.
In one recent study at the University of South Dakota Speech, Language and Hearing Department of hearing loss patients with dementia, researchers even found that teleaudiology can be even more effective than regular audiologic care.
Monitored and cared for remotely via real-time video calls, text and voice chat services, providers rated patients’ “general comprehension” as 4.5 on average on a 5-point scale in the teleaudiology period, compared to 2.7 when they weren’t using the remote service, adding that the remote service both decreased patients’ stress and improved their “alertness” and “awareness.”[1]
Residing within the greater communities of Milwaukee in Waukesha County, Hearing Focused is proud to be at the forefront of this emergent technology, offering our patients the most up-to-date teleaudiology services available.
If you’d like to take advantage of our teleaudiology services, or if you have any questions at all, please contact the office directly at (262) 679-8888.
[1] Jorgensen, L., Van Gerpen, T., Powers, T. A., & Apel, D. (2019, May 21). Benefit of Using Telecare for Dementia Patients with Hearing Loss and Their Caregivers. Retrieved from https://www.hearingreview.com/practice-building/office-services/telehealth/benefit-using-telecare-dementia-patients-hearing-loss-caregivers