{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T04:27:27Z","timestamp":1772166447747,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,12]],"date-time":"2024-04-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1712880000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,12]],"date-time":"2024-04-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1712880000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Trials"],"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Background<\/jats:title>\n Teleaudiology can potentially improve access to hearing healthcare services. Remote hearing aid fittings offer a new mode of service delivery that removes barriers of geography and access to an audiologist. Real-ear measurements (REMs) are the gold standard for hearing aid output verification but require in-clinic appointments. This study will investigate whether remote hearing aid fittings can provide clinically equivalent outcomes when compared to current, in-clinic, best practice guidelines.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Research design<\/jats:title>\n A repeated measure, double-blinded crossover design will be used. Participants will be randomly allocated to one of two groups to determine order of intervention, balanced for degree of hearing loss.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Study sample<\/jats:title>\n Sixty adults with mild to moderate hearing loss and at least 1\u00a0year of experience with hearing aids will be recruited.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Data collection and analysis<\/jats:title>\n Participants will complete two hearing aid fitting protocols, one using an in-clinic fitting process and the other using a remote (at-home) fitting process. In-clinic fittings will include REMs with adjustments to standard (NAL-NL2) prescription targets. The two fitting protocols will then be randomly assigned to participants in a crossover design, so participants and researchers will be blinded to the order of the two fitting protocols. Participants will then have a 4-week period with follow-up appointments for participant-directed gain adjustment. For each fitting protocol, participants will complete objective measurements of final hearing aid output with REMs, speech-in-noise testing, subjective measurements of hearing aid performance, and quality of life measurements. They will then begin an identical period of living with, adjusting, and objective assessment with the other fitting protocol. Data will be analysed as repeated measures with statistical control for potential confounding variables.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n Data will compare the four-frequency average real-ear aided response (4FREAR) for hearing aids programmed in-clinic and hearing aids programmed remotely, after participant-directed gain adjustments. Secondary measures will assess clinically significant differences in estimated speech intelligibility, hearing-related quality of life, hearing aid benefit, sound quality and preference, and speech-in-noise ability.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n This study will inform the development of best practice guidelines for remote hearing aid fittings. If no clinically significant differences are found between in-clinic and remote fit hearing aids, it has the potential to expand teleaudiology initiatives.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Trial registration<\/jats:title>\n \n Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry,\n ACTRN12623000028606p<\/jats:ext-link>\n .\u00a0Date of registration: 12 January 2023.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13063-024-08068-y","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,12]],"date-time":"2024-04-12T00:01:44Z","timestamp":1712880104000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Remote or in-clinic? The effect of service delivery mode on hearing aid output: study protocol for a double-blinded, randomised trial in adults with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2541-3771","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Craig","family":"Lett","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Welch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rosie","family":"Dobson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"8068_CR1","volume-title":"WHO world report on hearing","author":"World Health Organization","year":"2021","unstructured":"World Health Organization. WHO world report on hearing. 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Digital Healthcare Empowering Europeans Proceedings of MIE2015: Studies in health technology and informatics. Netherlands: iOS Press; 2015. p. 666\u20138."},{"issue":"2","key":"8068_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1089\/tmj.2009.0111","volume":"16","author":"D Swanepoel","year":"2010","unstructured":"Swanepoel D, Hall JW. A systematic review of telehealth applications in audiology. Telemed J E Health. 2010;16(2):181\u2013200.","journal-title":"Telemed J E Health"},{"key":"8068_CR8","volume-title":"Australian Teleaudiology Guidelines","author":"Audiology Australia","year":"2022","unstructured":"Audiology Australia. Australian Teleaudiology Guidelines. 2022."},{"key":"8068_CR9","unstructured":"American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Telepractice (Practice Portal). n.d.; Available at: https:\/\/www.asha.org\/practice-portal\/professional-issues\/telepractice. 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All participants will complete a consent form as part of the recruitment process.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate\u00a0{24}"}},{"value":"A consent form will be completed as part of the recruitment process. A redacted version of the consent form is included in the\n \n .","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication\u00a0{32}"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests\u00a0{28}"}}],"article-number":"256"}}