Personal experience with the remote check telehealth in cochlear implant users: from COVID-19 emergency to routine service

Purpose: To critically illustrate the personal experience with using the “Remote Check” application which remotely monitors the hearing rehabilitation level of cochlear implant users at home and further allows clinicians to schedule in-clinic sessions according to the patients’ needs. Methods: 12-month prospective study. Eighty adult cochlear implant users (females n = 37, males n = 43; age range 20–77 years) with ≥ 36 months of cochlear implant experience and ≥ 12 months of stable auditory and speech recognition level volunteered for this 12-month long prospective study. For each patient, at the beginning of the study during the in-clinic session to assess the stable aided hearing thresholds and the cochlear implant integrity and patient’s usage, the “Remote Check” assessment baseline values were obtained. “Remote Check” outcomes were collected at different times in the subsequent at-home sessions, to identify the patients that had to reach the Center. Chi-square test has been used for statistical analysis of the comparison of the “Remote Check” outcomes and in-clinic session results. Results: “Remote Check” application outcomes demonstrated minimal or no differences between all sessions. The at-home Remote Check application reached the same clinical outcomes as the in-clinic sessions in 79 out 80 of participants (99%) with high statistical significance (p < 0.05). Conclusions: “Remote Check” application supported hearing monitoring in cochlear implant users that were not able to attend the in-clinic review during COVID-19 pandemic time. This study demonstrates that the application can be a useful routine tool also for clinical follow-up of cochlear implant users with stable aided hearing.