TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rajeswaran, Ranjith
A1  - Tavora-Vieira, Dayse
A1  - Mertens, Griet
A1  - Dillon, Margaret
A1  - Narayan, Saranya
A1  - Kameswaran, Mohan
A1  - Kurz, Anja
T1  - Audiological practice and COVID-19: recommendations that audiological centers can use to maintain the safety and quality of service-expert opinion
JF  - European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology
N2  - Purpose
Audiology is an essential service for some patient groups and some interventions. This article sets forth experience-based recommendations for how audiological centers can continue to safely and effectively function during COVID-19.
Methods
The recommendations are the result of panel discussion and are based on the clinical experience of the panelists/authors.
Results
The recommendations cover which patient groups and which interventions should be treated when and whether this can be performed in the clinic or remotely; how to maintain the safety of workplace via optimizing patient flow within the clinic and the sanitation of rooms and equipment; and overcoming communication challenges that COVID-19 intensifies.
Conclusion
For essential audiological services to continue under COVID-19, safety measures must be implemented and maintained, and treatment and communication strategies must be adapted to offset communication difficulties due to personal protective equipment (PPE) and social distancing and to bolster patient confidence. In short, it is vital that staff feel safe, that patients either feel the clinic is safe enough to visit or that remote treatment may be an option, and that clinics and patients have a broad agreement on the urgency of any needed service. We hope that these recommendations help clinics effectively accomplish these goals.
KW  - remote care/telehealth
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - audiological services
KW  - cochlear implant
KW  - hearing aid
KW  - triage
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-266774
SN  - 1434-4726
VL  - 279
IS  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mertens, Griet
A1  - Andries, Ellen
A1  - Kurz, Anja
A1  - Tȧvora-Vieira, Dayse
A1  - Calvino, Miryam
A1  - Amann, Edda
A1  - Anderson, Ilona
A1  - Lorens, Artur
T1  - Towards a consensus on an ICF-based classification system for horizontal sound-source localization
JF  - Journal of Personalized Medicine
N2  - The study aimed to develop a consensus classification system for the reporting of sound localization testing results, especially in the field of cochlear implantation. Against the background of an overview of the wide variations present in localization testing procedures and reporting metrics, a novel classification system was proposed to report localization errors according to the widely accepted International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. The obtained HEARRING_LOC_ICF scale includes the ICF graded scale: 0 (no impairment), 1 (mild impairment), 2 (moderate impairment), 3 (severe impairment), and 4 (complete impairment). Improvement of comparability of localization results across institutes, localization testing setups, and listeners was demonstrated by applying the classification system retrospectively to data obtained from cohorts of normal-hearing and cochlear implant listeners at our institutes. The application of our classification system will help to facilitate multi-center studies, as well as allowing better meta-analyses of data, resulting in improved evidence-based practice in the field.
KW  - sound localization
KW  - binaural hearing
KW  - cochlear implant
KW  - interaural level difference
KW  - interaural time difference
KW  - single-sided deafness
KW  - unilateral hearing loss
KW  - testing-method consensus
KW  - classification
KW  - ICF
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-297319
SN  - 2075-4426
VL  - 12
IS  - 12
ER  -