The priority of audiological procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic

Nader Saki; Vedat Topsakal; Marzieh Amiri; Wael Jasim Al-Shihaby; Arash Bayat

doi:10.47176/mjiri.35.99

The priority of audiological procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic

Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2021 Aug 3:35:99. doi: 10.47176/mjiri.35.99. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Nader Saki¹, Vedat Topsakal², Marzieh Amiri³, Wael Jasim Al-Shihaby⁴, Arash Bayat¹

Affiliations

¹ Hearing Research Center, Clinical Sciences Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
² Antwerp University Hospital, Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Edegem, Antwerp, Belgium, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, ‎University of Antwerp, Belgium.
³ Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁴ Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.

Abstract

Since the discovery of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which started in Wuhan, China, the epidemic has not only swept through China but also spread throughout the world in spite of the concerted attempts from the governments to contain it. Thus, prevention and control of COVID-19 infection is very effective in ensuring the safety of medical specialists, health care workers, and patients. Audiology clinics are also crucial in the fight against the infection epidemic, as audiologists provide their diagnostic and rehabilitative services in an environment with different contaminated objects that come in either direct or indirect contact with multiple patients. The current article explains the importance of infection control in audiology and priority setting for audiologic evaluation in COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Audiology; Audiometry; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Protection.