Listening and Learning: Using Telepractice to Serve Children and Adults with Hearing Loss

Abstract

Families of children with hearing loss and adults who also have been diagnosed with hearing loss require audiologic management, effective hearing technology, and consistent intervention or rehabilitation to improve their communication. Parents of young children with hearing loss who have chosen a listening and spoken language approach, such as Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT), may struggle to find qualified providers who can deliver these services. Similarly, adults with hearing loss also may find it challenging to enroll in aural rehabilitation services due to a lack of availability. The Telepractice and eLearning Laboratory (TeLL) in the School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at the University of Akron has developed a model of telepractice service delivery to provide AVT to families of young children with hearing loss and adult aural rehabilitation services. This paper describes the rationale for establishing these services and a general framework that guides service delivery.