Awareness, Attitude and Perceptions towards Stem Cells in Hearing Sciences among Audiologist: Survey across Delhi (NCR)

Abstract

Introduction: Many management approaches for hearing impairment has been developed and the most recent approach is the stem cell therapy. Stem cells have the potential to give rise to differentiated cells with specialized functions as they are capable of perpetuating themselves through cell division. There are several evidential studies that support stem cell regeneration for hearing loss. As audiologists are one of the main pillars in the field of hearing so stem cell therapy is also a concern of the audiologists. Aim: Present study aims to measure the awareness, attitude and perception level among audiologists about stem cell therapy. Method: Total 57 audiologists participated in the study. 26 subjects were graduates and 31 were post-graduates. A close-ended questionnaire was formulated which contains 18 questions and was divided into four sections. The questionnaire was made through Google form and distributed via email and social media and the responses were plotted on excel sheet. Result: Present study revealed that 90.32% post-graduate population agreed that stem cells can regenerate, and 19.23% of graduates responded that stem cells cannot regenerate. Around 11.53% graduates disagreed that all pluripotent stem cells help in regeneration of inner hair cells, while 48.38% of postgraduates were not sure. Around 80% of the Christians, 75% of Muslims and 83.33% of Hindus agree that stem cells regenerate. Summary: We can conclude that audiologist was aware of the stem cell therapeutics; however, the level of awareness was not much and also had a good attitude towards stem cell therapeutics.

Keywords: Stem cell therapy, hearing science, audiologists, hearing loss

Cite this Article

Rahul Bhagat, Ishita Kapoor, Himanshu Verma, et al. Awareness, Attitude and Perceptions towards Stem Cells in Hearing Sciences among Audiologist: Survey across Delhi (NCR). Research & Reviews: A Journal of Health Professions. 2018; 8(3): 7–16p.