Clementine, a company that has been providing services for audiology businesses for some time has recently announced the introduction of a hearing test in a box. That’s my description, not theres, however, it is a pretty accurate one. Here is what you need to know.
Let’s take a look at what the new product offers and how it may act as a stop-gap during this crisis. The idea is that the system will allow you to continue serving new clients, even while they cannot visit your store.
The system offers a 10 inch touchscreen which will guide the user through the test process and help record results. It also offers calibrated noise cancelling headphones and a video otoscope. They say:
- Secure case
- User-friendly and easy to ship to people who cannot visit your practice
- For doing a remote intake: stand-alone via the user-friendly app or guided via video consultation
Basically, you ship it to the prospective patient, if they have wifi, the system will connect to the Clementine home system and sync the results. If they don’t have wifi, you simply have them ship the case back to you and connect it to your own wifi and it will then sync the results with their online system.
Offline and Online
Being offline and online offers the best functionality, while in many areas stable internet connection is ubiquitous, in some areas it is still patchy or non-existent at best. In response to a question from a reader, I am adding an update here, the system can store multiple audiograms from different users which can be synced with your system at a later date.
Not a Complete Test, But a Good Start
While this system does not offer a complete testing protocol, it is a good start considering the current crisis. You will get to see in their ears, which is great, and you will get a high standard air conduction audiogram. Which together, has to be seen as better than nothing.
You can take a look at the system on https://www.askclementine.com/clementine-home/. Innovation like this can be expected to explode over the next few months, while face to face appointments are difficult at best, people with hearing loss difficulties still need our services.
Solutions like this will ensure that we are at least meeting some of their needs.