Are we ready for teleaudiology?: data from Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The application of teleaudiology in the field of audiology has been regarded as a promising approach to improve the quality of services and access to healthcare. Ongoing studies are required to explore the willingness and attitudes of clinicians to use teleaudiology services in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to obtain preliminary data regarding audiologists’ perceptions of teleaudiology in Malaysia.

Method: Forty-three audiologists in Malaysia participated in a survey to examine their views regarding teleaudiology. The survey was conducted by inviting the audiologists to complete the Malay version of ‘Attitudes toward Teleaudiology Scale for Practitioners (MyATS-P)’. MyATS-P consists of 41 items with four sections assessing the usage of information communication technology, perceived effect of teleaudiology, and willingness to use teleaudiology.

Results: Approximately half of the respondents indicated that teleaudiology would have a positive effect on quality of care (54.41%), accessibility (62.79%), and professional practice (46.51%). The willingness of the respondents to use teleaudiology was dependent on the types of clinical tasks and client groups examined.

Conclusion: This study confirmed that support for remote audiology testing in Malaysia was divided among the audiologists. Several measures were suggested to initiate teleaudiology practice in Malaysia and to encourage its use in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Perception
• telemedicine
• telehealth
• remote testing
• information communication technology (ICT)
• audiology
• attitudes

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the audiologists who participated in this study. Thanks also to Prof. Gurjit Singh for giving us the permission to adapt the ATS-P questionnaire into Malay.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.