There is a high prevalence of undiagnosed and untreated hearing loss among older adults. Due to finite resources, task shifting to trained non-specialists is a strategy to improve equity of access to hearing health care. This pilot study aims to implement and evaluate a novel model of hearing care known as the SOUND-BITES program....
This is a study protocol only — no results are yet available; no actionable change for clinical practice at this stage.
Embedding hearing screening into existing community food-delivery services could reach homebound older adults who never present to audiology clinics, potentially reducing undiagnosed hearing loss at scale.
- 01Pilot study protocol embeds hearing health checks into Meals on Wheels delivery visits.
- 02Uses task-shifting: non-specialist volunteers or delivery staff conduct the checks.
- 03Target population is older adults at risk of undiagnosed hearing loss.
- 04No results yet — this paper defines the methods and procedures to be tested.
- 05Could offer a low-cost, scalable model for community-based hearing screening.
Routine hearing health checks can be embedded within Meals on Wheels services using non-specialist staff (task-shifting).
studyunclear- PMID
- 42447205
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0354082.
- Journal
- PLOS ONE
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- na
- Population
- Older adults receiving Meals on Wheels services at risk of undiagnosed hearing loss
- Intervention
- Routine hearing health checks embedded in Meals on Wheels service visits, conducted by non-specialists (task-shifting)
Primary outcomes
Feasibility of embedding hearing checks within Meals on Wheels delivery visits; Acceptability of task-shifted hearing screening among older adults and delivery staff