Audiologist Devon Kulinski, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, uses a boothless audiometry system to test the hearing of a Marine taking part in exercise Operation Rolling Thunder at Fort Benning, Georgia in October 2020 (Photo by: Quintin Hecht, DHA Hearing Center of Excellence).
Schulz emphasized boothless audiometry can help to bridge this gap, and increase access to hearing health care services.
For providers who treat patients with diabetes mellitus, the boothless system is showing promise as a way to early identify hearing loss, which is twice as common in adults with diabetes compared to those without the condition, according to a National Institutes of Health study.
To address this concern, HCE and the Diabetes Center of Excellence at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, are conducting a quality improvement project that incorporates hearing loss screening at DCOE using boothless audiometry during routine clinic appointments for patients with diabetes. While the project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Carlos Esquivel, HCE's acting division chief, reports that early data has demonstrated boothless audiometry can be successfully incorporated into different clinical settings.
"The screening battery has helped to identify patients with a potential hearing loss, who were then referred to the appropriate providers for further evaluation," said Esquivel.
Outside of the clinic setting, military researchers have also used boothless audiometry at several sites for a variety of studies, according to Esquivel.
In collaboration with military research investigators based in San Diego, California and San Antonio, Texas, HCE researchers employed the boothless WAHTS system at various clinical and occupational audiology clinics to gather information about the hearing health status of study participants without interrupting clinic flow and expediting testing procedures.
In another project, the portable WAHTS system is supporting a multi-site field study, called Characterization of Acute or Short-term Acquired Military Population Auditory Shifts (CHASMPAS), headed by WRNMMC. The CHASMPAS researchers are conducting in-field hearing evaluations using WAHTS to characterize short-term changes in hearing among military personnel exposed to blasts.
"Boothless audiometry enables CHASMPAS researchers to evaluate hearing sensitivity and performance in the field environment immediately before and after high-noise and blast exposures," said Esquivel. "Expeditious, field-based assessment ensures faster hearing evaluation without taking troops out of the training environment."
With the goal to increase awareness and use of boothless audiometry, HCE established the joint DOD and Department of Veterans Affairs Boothless Audiometry Networking Group, or BANG, in September 2020. The goal of BANG is to collaborate and advance the use of boothless audiometry across the DOD and VA to increase timely access to hearing health services for service members and veterans.
From austere and remote environments, to clinic settings and beyond, boothless audiometry is proving to have multiple applications and value for future hearing health care.
"We will continue to advance and support the refinement of boothless audiometry through future research studies and quality improvement projects," said Esquivel. "Essentially, it can take hearing health care to where it is needed."