Contributors: Gabriella Constantinescu, Monique Waite, Dimity Dornan, Emma Rushbrooke, Jackie Brown1, Jane McGovern,

Michelle Ryan1 and Anne Hill

Published By: Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, by Sage Publishing

Published On: 2014

Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) is an early intervention approach for teaching listening and spoken language to children with hearing loss.

However, conventional in person AVT services may not be accessible for children with hearing loss living in rural and remote areas. Thus children in rural and remote areas are at risk of further isolation in their community as they struggle to achieve their full potential in education, vocation and society. Telemedicine (also known as telepractice in this context) may improve access to specialised treatment like AVT for children with hearing loss and a number of programmes are emerging.

In Queensland, the Hear and Say organization provides both in person AVT and a telepractice programme (eAVT).

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the eAVT programme in promoting the spoken language development of young children with hearing loss.