To effect true change that will benefit patients, hearing care professionals must be willing to cultivate and implement new and innovative ideas and processes.

By Bopanna Ballachanda, PhD

Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a series on healthcare innovations facilitated by Bopanna Ballachanda, a longtime audiologist and a new member of The Hearing Review’s editorial advisory board.

The terms “innovation” and “innovative” are buzzwords widely used in many fields, including healthcare. In healthcare, innovation is not just about introducing new ideas, methods, products, services, or solutions. It’s about turning these creative concepts into tangible outcomes that we can see and feel in our daily lives, whether through improved efficiency or effectiveness, or addressing unmet needs.

Innovation is not limited to technological advancements and includes new approaches to problem-solving, processes, organizational practices, or business models. Innovation involves challenging the status quo, thinking outside the box, and taking calculated risks to drive progress and achieve breakthrough outcomes. Innovation is driven by curiosity, creativity, and the desire for improvement. It requires a mindset that embraces change, welcomes new ideas, and encourages experimentation.

Innovation can occur in various contexts, such as business, science, technology, social sectors, or public services. It can lead to economic growth, social progress, improved quality of life, and sustainable development.

In the healthcare sector, innovation plays a crucial role in addressing complex challenges, improving patient outcomes, and transforming healthcare delivery.

The Nature of Innovation in Healthcare

Innovation is not the same as invention. In the healthcare sector, innovations are the source of any improvement in the quality of services and quality of life, but also a steady challenge to existing healthcare providers and systems. The main problem facing the healthcare sector is not the scarcity of innovation, but the dissemination of innovative concepts.

Invention refers to the creation of something new, whereas innovation is about the application of these inventions to improve existing processes or create new ones. Other innovations bring something completely new to this world, i.e., the new product or service satisfies a need that was previously completely unmet.

A radical innovation that opens a new market is sometimes called a disruptive innovation. For instance, the new COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are disruptive innovations with the potential to become not only a new market but also the new standard for all other vaccines.

The term “personalized medicine” (PM) has been in use for nearly two decades, yet a universally accepted definition remains elusive. PM aims to move away from the “one-size-fits-all” approach to medicine, wherein a standardized diagnostic procedure, therapy, or prevention program is applied to all patients. Instead, it seeks to tailor these interventions to individual patients or smaller groups based on their specific constellation of biomarkers.

Below, we will discuss a few innovative advancements that have been integrated into the field of healthcare, something that we can all strive to participate in for the betterment of our patients.

Digital Health

Digital health involves integrating information and communication technologies within the healthcare sector. Its primary objective is to enhance the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of health-related processes and organizations. A key element of digital health is E-health, which leverages information and communication technologies, mainly through web-based applications, at the core of the healthcare system.

E-health

E-health is a relatively young innovation. Although the first attempts at telemedicine were undertaken in the last century, its broad application required the availability of broadband internet to transfer (e.g., for imaging) or store data (e.g., cloud-based patient files). The technology and concepts can be imported into any country, so one would expect that E-health has diffused to all nations. There is ample evidence that E-health, including telemedicine, digital patient records, remote surgery, etc., has the potential to significantly improve the health of the population, particularly in rural areas where specialized services are otherwise unavailable.

Implants

Implants are medical devices that replace, support, or enhance missing or damaged biological structures. Typical examples are hip prostheses, pacemakers, and cochlear implants. As life expectancy increases and the age of implantation (e.g., of cochlear implants) decreases, several implant changes are becoming necessary during a person’s life due to the longer application time. This greatly increases the risk and lifetime cost of implants. Consequently, innovative implants attempt to be durable, avoid increasing loss of functionality, and improve maintenance.

Worldwide, there is a vast market for innovative implants, and the respective innovation process requires scientific management, but disruptive innovations are rare. Instead, most innovations are incremental, so the innovation must compete with the existing implant (which was an innovation before!). We are now seeing this elsewhere in hearing care as well.

Diagnostic Testing in Hearing Care—an Example of Innovation

In the realm of hearing care, the initial stage entails the identification of a potential hearing loss. The current standard model for conducting hearing assessments is stationary and lacks mobility. These assessments require a sound-treated environment to eliminate external noise interference. A diagnostic audiometer evaluates hearing capacity, middle ear functionality, and inner ear structures. This arrangement works well in most places where people traditionally receive hearing care.

However, this equipment tends to be bulky and unsuitable for conducting assessments outside clinical settings. Individuals with limited financial means in low- and middle-income nations face challenges accessing hearing healthcare due to financial constraints, residing in underserved areas, and lacking awareness about hearing care. All of this results in substantial gaps in hearing care for a population disproportionately affected by hearing loss. This is where innovation can be so impactful.

For people in such circumstances, there is an alternative diagnostic device that is better suited for their needs. The Kuduwave is a highly accurate diagnostic audiometer that clinicians can use to conduct thorough examinations and investigations in any setting or location. Its distinctive Ambi-Dome passive attenuation functionality combines physical passive noise blocking with cutting-edge active noise monitoring technology to enable testing without a booth. The real-time environmental noise monitoring notifies the clinician if the ambient noise is masking the tone presented. The clinician waits for the ambient noise to subside before continuing the test.

In addition to Puretone and standard bone conduction tones, the Kuduwave can conduct acoustic immittance measurements and speech testing. The Kuduwave Pro-TMP, with built-in tympanometry, is an acoustic immittance measurement device capable of performing bilateral simultaneous tympanometry and ipsi and contralateral acoustic reflex measurements without requiring the probe to be swapped to the opposite ear.

Additionally, both the Kuduwave Pro and Kuduwave Pro-TMP audiometers have teleaudiology functionality, which is entirely independent of location. This feature allows users to conduct remote testing while benefiting from integrated patient management, manual or automated testing, and secure cloud storage facilities.

The Kuduwave is a versatile tool suitable for various hearing testing purposes, including ototoxicity monitoring, school screening, mass screening, occupational health, and customized testing protocols tailored to the needs of hearing care professionals. Notably, the Kuduwave has set records for hearing testing in Bahrain and South Africa, underscoring its effectiveness and reliability in diverse settings. It is wholly contained within a lightweight headset and uses plug-and-play (USB) hardware and Windows-based software for easy setup and operation, wherever it’s used. In my opinion, the Kuduwave is a prime example of an innovative audiological instrument.

What We Can Do

The existing world is the result of innovation processes of the past—and the future world will be the consequence of today’s innovation processes. Whether this future brings better quality of life, more efficient healthcare provision, and equity among stakeholders depends significantly on the inventions we make today, the process by which they are adopted and implemented, and how effectively the inventions and related innovative concepts are being made available to people who could benefit from them.

Our innovations help determine whether future generations will still face the same medical problems that we do. This prospect should encourage us—as hearing care professionals and as citizens of the world—to invest more in proper innovation management that encompasses the entire spectrum, from generating creative ideas to marketing new products to establishing the new standard.

The starting point is a thorough analysis of the type of innovation, its current phase in the innovation process, potential adopters and promoters of all kinds, barriers to implementation, and a temporal and spatial path to access and adoption. This is the way to adopt and implement innovations so they can be used to improve people’s lives. 

Featured image: Kuduwave audiometers were developed for situations where sound booths are not available, to meet the hearing care needs of people in underserved areas across the globe.

About the Author: Bopanna Ballachanda, PhD, holds a doctoral degree in auditory neurophysiology and was the founder and CEO of a large multi-state practice with clinics in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. He has retired from private practice and, in addition to serving on several boards and working as an adjunct professor, he now serves as a consultant to audiology practice owners who wish to delve into teleaudiology.