Ototoxicity is the pharmacological adverse reaction affecting the inner ear or auditory nerve, characterized by cochlear or vestibular dysfunction. The panorama of drug-induced hearing loss has widened over last few decades. Although ototoxic medications play an imperative role in modern medicine, they have the capacity to cause harm and lead to significant morbidity. Evidence has shown early detection of toxicity through prospective ototoxicity monitoring allows for consideration of treatment modifications to minimize or prevent permanent hearing loss and balance impairment. Although many ototoxicity monitoring protocols exist, their practicality is questionable due to several factors. Even though the existing protocols have proven to be effective, certain lacunae in practice have been encountered due to discrepancies among recommended protocols. Implementation of these protocols is mostly held back due to the incapacitated status of the patient. The choice of early ototoxicity identification techniques is still debatable due to variables such as high degree of sensitivity, specificity and reliability, less time consumption and less labour-intensive to the patient. Hence, the diagnosis and effective treatment of ototoxicity is challenging, even today. A stringent protocol with more practicality encompassing all elements aimed at profiling the effects of ototoxicity is greatly needed. This review describes an efficient application of ototoxicity monitoring and treatment protocol as an attempt to reduce the challenges in diagnosis and management of ototoxicity.

Telepractice is commonly used in other health professions to dispense a large number of services. These services include diagnostics, rehabilitation, and counseling. Telepractice is increasingly available to practitioners serving rural areas and can be modified for many health applications. Yet telepractice is not widely used by audiologists. This is somewhat surprising because audiology seems poised to offer telepractice using both synchronous and asynchronous technology. Furthermore, telepractice may be particularly effective for enhancing a universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) program in rural areas. Specifically, rural communities often lack the proper personnel and program continuity to serve newborns with hearing loss effectively. Telepractice may be a method that can ameliorate these problems. Presently, Utah State University is evaluating the value of telepractice for UNHS services. Initial data obtained from this project are promising and support the validity of telepractice with infant hearing services. However, research with a much larger group of subjects will be required before telepractice can be used with confidence in a UNHS program.Learning Outcomes: As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to (1) discuss the concept of telepractice, and (2) describe the application of telepractice for universal newborn hearing screening services.

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Background: The heterogeneity of tinnitus perception and its impact necessitates a tailor-made management approach in everyone. The current study examined the effects of residual inhibition in combined amplification and sound therapy in individuals with tinnitus and coexisting hearing loss. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on patients with tinnitus and coexisting hearing loss between 2016 and 2019. A total of 72 patients provided with combined amplification and sound therapy were divided into 3 groups based on residual inhibition: (i) complete residual inhibition, (ii) partial residual inhibition, and (iii) negative residual inhibition. Tinnitus severity was measured using the Tinnitus Functional Index before treatment and 1 and 6 months after the intervention. A multilevel mixed-effects model was used to examine the treatment effects including both the main and interaction effects of time and residual inhibition on the tinnitus severity. Results: Of the 72 participants, 55 (76%) and 61 (85%) had clinically significant changes (13 points in Tinnitus Functional Index) at 1-month and 6-month postintervention, respectively. In the complete, partial, and negative residual inhibition groups, the reduction in tinnitus impact was 100%, 78%, and 74%, respectively. A multilevel mixed model analysis showed that the main effects of time and residual inhibition along with their interaction were significant. Conclusions: The study results suggest that combined amplification and sound therapy is beneficial in individuals with tinnitus and coexisting hearing loss in reducing their tinnitus severity, and this benefit was more in individuals with complete residual inhibition. However, these results need to be further confirmed by controlled trials.