The COVID-19 pandemic brought many difficulties, and face-to-face meetings between patients and audiologists have been no exception. While many of us find it preferable to meet in person, concerns about potential infection have helped introduce more and more patients to teleaudiology. Beyond concerns about the pandemic, teleaudiology can also help save time and, ultimately, help us provide better care.
Signia is a manufacturer of quality hearing aids appropriate for the needs of a wide range of patients. Their TeleCare app not only improves the user experience, day to day, but allows for a much easier, faster, and better adjustment process by providing a platform for teleaudiology.
How Does TeleCare Improve Care?
Adjusting to a new set of hearing aids is an ongoing process. While we start out with an initial fitment based on the results of a hearing test, these settings are created based on clinically conducted hearing tests and expected real-world performance. Once you leave the office and go out into real-life wearing your hearing aids, you might find some sounds or situations to be uncomfortable or insufficiently amplified.
For decades, the ongoing fitment process has required that new patients return to the office where we adjust their hearing aids based on their reports of how they’re performing out in the real world. Patients might return several times before they’re satisfied with the way their hearing aids are functioning on a daily basis.
Today, most hearing aids have the capability to integrate tightly with smartphones. Nearly every hearing aid manufacturer offers Bluetooth connection to smartphones, and Signia’s TeleCare app is a great option, providing a simple interface that allows the wearer to adjust hearing aid settings directly through the app. Additionally, we can conduct a teleconference through Signia’s TeleCare and make more detailed adjustments to your fitment in real-time, right from the comfort of your own home, or wherever you happen to be!
How Does the App Work?
Using the Signia TeleCare app through the FitHearing Audiology Network, you can tap the “professional” button in the menu. From there, you’ll head into a chat window with us. The chat window looks a lot like a text message conversation, but is inside the app rather than your usual messaging app. The “info” button, next to the name at the top of the conversation window, will show you additional contact options and information regarding our office.
When you chat with us to discuss the issues you’re having with your Signia hearing aids, we’ll send you new settings right through the chat window. You can easily tap on the new setting to apply it to your hearing aids, as long as they’re connected via Bluetooth.
You can also arrange a virtual appointment with us, where we will start a video or phone call, establish a remote connection with your hearing aids and adjust the settings while you talk to us in person, just as if you had come into the office. This allows you to give us immediate feedback about how your hearing aids have changed, so we can make further adjustments while on the same video call, if necessary.
The TeleCare app will also ask you on a daily basis about your satisfaction with your hearing aids. Choose one of five faces ranging from “frustrated” to “completely satisfied.” There may be some days when your hearing aids are working perfectly, and others where something happens to make you think they need an adjustment. By rating your daily satisfaction we can get a better sense of how and when your fitment is working best for you, which helps us make more effective alterations.
New hearing aids always take some adjustment, and especially for new users who have gone a while with untreated hearing loss, some ear-training lessons can be really helpful throughout the adjustment process. FitHearing Audiology Network offers interactive training lessons through the Signia TeleCare app that will be tailored to your individual hearing situation. As you complete your hearing lessons, we’ll get a better sense of how your hearing ability is progressing with your new hearing aids.
Whether you’re concerned about the spread of COVID-19 or face mobility issues, rest assured that our teleaudiology practices will help you adjust more easily than ever to your new hearing aids. If you or a loved one is in need of hearing aids, make an appointment for a hearing test today and talk to us about taking advantage of teleaudiology through the adjustment process and for any hearing care needs you may have going forward.
