Acoustic immittance measures and middle ear assessment: Current practice by South African audiologists

South African Journal of Communication Disorders

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Acoustic immittance measures and middle ear assessment: Current practice by South African audiologists
 
Creator Sebothoma, Ben Khoza-Shangase, Katijah
 
Subject Health; assessment; management acoustic immittance; audiological practice; middle ear function; South Africa; audiology; tympanometry
Description Background: Limited research exists regarding South African audiologists’ practice with acoustic immittance. This study was part of a bigger study titled ‘Wideband acoustic immittance in adults living with human immunodeficiency virus’.Objectives: The purpose of the study was to explore current practice of South African audiologists regarding acoustic immittance measures, and to explore their perceived knowledge and views on acoustic immittance advancements.Method: A quantitative survey with a cross sectional design was employed. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to participants via professional associations of audiologists. Data was analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: Most audiologists worked in private practice and conducted tympanometry with 226Hz probe tone and ipsilateral acoustic reflexes. There was no association between clinical setting, levels of qualification, and the use of tympanometry. None of the participants included multifrequency and multicomponent tympanometry (MFT) and/or wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) in their test battery. Most of the participants were not familiar with MFT and WAI. Familiarity with MFT and WAI were only associated with the level of qualification. Limited training and lack of equipment were major barriers to conducting some of the acoustic immittance measures. Most participants believed that they would include MFT and/or WAI in their test battery if they had access to the equipment.Conclusion: Current findings raise training and clinical implications for the South African audiologists, including training institutions. These findings provide motivation for strategic resource allocation, planning and distribution of audiology clinics in the country if positive preventive audiology outcomes are to be achieved.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2021-06-07
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — quantitative research with cross sectional design
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajcd.v68i1.818
 
Source South African Journal of Communication Disorders; Vol 68, No 1 (2021); 7 pages 2225-4765 0379-8046
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/818/1501 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/818/1502 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/818/1503 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/818/1504
 
Coverage — — 18 years and older; males and females; all ethnic groups
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Ben Sebothoma, Katijah Khoza-Shangase https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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