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. 2020 Mar 3;67(2):e1-e10.
doi: 10.4102/sajcd.v67i2.670.

South African hearing conservation programmes in the context of tele-audiology: A scoping review

Katijah Khoza-Shangase  1 , Nomfundo Moroe
Affiliations

South African hearing conservation programmes in the context of tele-audiology: A scoping review

Katijah Khoza-Shangase et al. S Afr J Commun Disord. .

Abstract

Background: The limited involvement of audiologists in occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) management through hearing conservation programmes (HCPs) is a global issue. In low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries such as South Africa, this is also exacerbated by demand versus capacity challenges. Tele-audiology is an option requiring serious deliberation by the audiology community within HCPs in LAMI contexts.

Objectives: This scoping review explores if tele-audiology has a potential value in HCPs and reviews what has been documented in the literature on the use of tele-audiology in HCPs.

Method: A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley's framework. A search was conducted in five electronic bibliographic databases including Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus Medline, ProQuest and Google Scholar and the grey literature to identify publications presenting considerations around tele-audiology in the implementation of HCPs.

Results: Findings revealed significant dearth of evidence specific to the use or application of tele-audiology in ONIHL and/or HCPs both within the African context and internationally, despite the purported potential benefit of this service delivery model, particularly in resource-constrained contexts such as LAMI countries. Of the publications deemed potentially relevant to this scoping review, none were found that specifically investigated or addressed the use of tele-audiology in ONIHL or HCPs as their main objective. Nuanced analysis of publications revealed that in the last decade, indication for potential growth in the use of tele-audiology within occupational audiology is indicated.

Conclusion: Because of the significant demand versus capacity challenges in LAMI countries, and because of the need for scaling up audiology professionals' management of HCPs, careful consideration of teleaudiology as a platform to deliver services in these contexts is required.

Keywords: audiology availability; e-health; e-medicine; e-practice; hearing conservation; noise; occupational; resource constrained; tele-audiology; tele-health; tele-medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) flow diagram for included publications.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Possibilities of tele-audiology use in hearing conservation programmes for all pillars (tele-hearing conservation programmes).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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