Improving Access to Hearing Care Services

In this episode of BackTable ENT, Dr. Carrie Nieman joins Dr. Gopi Shah and Dr. Ashley Agan to discuss disparities in hearing care for older adults and different care models to address these.

Dr. Nieman begins the show by sharing some striking statistics: of the 26 million older Americans who currently experience a clinically significant degree of hearing loss, only 3 million actually use hearing aids. Disparities in hearing care may arise from individual factors such as financial situation and patient education, but they can also arise from structural factors like physical distance from ENTs and audiologists.

Dr. Nieman believes that the conventional model of clinic-based hearing care can be augmented by different models of care delivery, specifically one that makes use of community health workers. She describes the HEARS (Hearing Health Equity Through Accessible Research and Solutions) Program that she developed and how her team trained older adult peer mentors to guide patients through education about over-the-counter hearing devices, communication strategies, and living with hearing loss. She emphasizes that these devices can be a gateway that leads patients to feel more comfortable with hearing aids later on.

For ENTs looking to reduce hearing care disparities, Dr. Nieman recommends that they learn how their patients want to engage with the world, provide patients with multiple options for hearing care, and collaborate with other players who are working towards the same goal.