Tablet-Based Telerehabilitation Versus Conventional Face-to-Face Rehabilitation After Cochlear Implantation:...

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Home-based rehabilitation technologies can reduce costs and improve access to care.
• Auditory training is crucial for cochlear implant (CI) users to adapt to new sound signals.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for remote therapeutic solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel teletherapeutic auditory rehabilitation platform for adult CI recipients.
• To compare clinical outcomes and economic benefits of teletherapy versus conventional face-to-face rehabilitation.

Main Methods:

• 20 adult CI users completed 3 weeks of in-clinic therapy followed by 3 weeks of home-based computer-based auditory training (CBAT).
• Assessments included speech understanding in quiet and noise, system usability, and time efficiency.
• Participants were evaluated before, after in-clinic therapy, and after CBAT.

Main Results:

• CBAT demonstrated greater improvements in speech understanding, particularly in sentence comprehension in noise and phoneme differentiation.
• The CBAT system was highly rated for usability, with most participants willing to use it independently.
• Teletherapy significantly reduced time for both clinicians (120 vs. 30 mins/week) and users (travel time savings).

Conclusions:

• Teletherapeutic auditory rehabilitation using CBAT is feasible and effective for CI users.
• This approach yields significant clinical benefits and substantial time savings for patients and clinicians.
• Teletherapy presents a cost-effective solution for hearing rehabilitation, addressing resource limitations and pandemic challenges.