Hearing Health Care Worker Training Summary
The Hearing Health Care Worker Training was a gathering of health professionals who work in the area of ear and hearing health. The participants were given an overview of ear and hearing health, different types of hearing loss, and methods for assessing ear and hearing health. They were then instructed on, and given time to experiment with, prototypes of novel smartphone-based hearing assessment tools which can be used to assess the ear and hearing health of individuals from birth through adulthood. The training served two purposes:
1) To identify areas within the smartphone-based hearing assessment tools where additional development would be beneficial
2) To gather feedback on the feasibility of smartphone-based hearing assessment tool use in typical clinical settings with non-specialized providers with the goal of sharing this feedback with stakeholders and policy makers.
The feedback of the hearing health care workers was especially useful given some of their experience in TUNE's sister study, the HOPE study, in which typical, non-smartphone-based technology is used to screen children's hearing. This work gave them the expertise to effectively consider the merits of the smartphone-based hearing assessment tools.