The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted the audiology sector across the globe. Audiology professionals and patients alike are in need of finding new ways of interacting while respecting self-isolation and social distancing measures. Telehealth solutions have turned from luxuries to necessities to keep sustaining the hearing health of the worldwide population.
Koalys Comfort is a home audiology platform which provides tele-consultation, remote diagnostics, and fitting capabilities, according to an announcement by the company. Using a calibrated headset and Bluetooth speaker in conjunction with a web link, patients can now interact with audiology professionals face-to-face and in real-time as if they were at the same location. This solution, which works on a PC, Android smartphone, and tablet, establishes the capability to proceed with remote hearing aid fitting and periodical follow-ups and adjustments, while maintaining “the utmost professional efficacy and patient care,” according to Koalys.
Yves Lasry, co-founder and chief audiologist of Koalys, explains this solution in detail: “Via the headset, the expert can chat with the patient, take his case history, and perform his pure-tone audiometry, his thresholds, his comfort and discomfort levels, a classical or adaptive speech audiometry, in silence or in noise. The audiologist can then proceed with remote fitting. Fine-tuning, adjustments, and periodical follow-ups will be performed from home in the same way, using a calibrated Bluetooth speaker that will be placed at a 50 cm distance from the patient.”
Koalys Comfort will first be deployed in the United States and France. Lasry sees, in this solution, “a new approach which opens up, a number of different and interesting practices for the future.”
Beyond this very unusual situation with the pandemic, he thinks that these “remote tools for carrying out tests at the patient’s home” will also be useful for extending reach to underserved populations, reducing the number of visits to the hearing care practice and expediting the whole testing and fitting processes.
To get more information and pre-order Koalys Comfort, please email Koalys at: [email protected].
Source: Koalys
Source: Koalys
