Telepractice in University Au.D. Programs: Survey of Program Directors

Permanent hearing loss is a global health care burden; 360 million people, including 32 million (9%) children, have disabling hearing loss (Chadha & Stevens, 2013, p. 2). About 80 percent of these people live in developing nations without access to hearing care services. The American Academy of Audiology (AAA, 2014) has reported “ongoing efforts to explore and enhance the use of telepractice…to expand the availability and accessibility of hearing and balance care” to individuals across the world. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2014c) has also endorsed advances in telepractice for the world's millions with hearing loss and related disorders, and encouraged institutional involvement as a future direction for audiology training. In the first publishing of this nature, this report shares survey responses from 28 of the nation's 74 graduate programs about their inclusion of telepractice in the Clinical Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) curriculum. Results suggest a slow response from university programs and challenges in addressing telepractice in current course and clinical offerings. Results also support a direction of change to include telepractice in future Au.D. curricula.