Who can listen to a recording?

Only you, while the draft is open — that’s what listen-back is for. Every access is written to the audit log, and once you confirm the note there is nothing left to listen to.

While the draft is open

Listen-back exists to settle a flag. Where Akoua wasn’t sure it heard something, you can play that moment back and decide for yourself rather than accepting a confident-looking sentence. The audio is kept AES-256-encrypted only while you review the draft.

Every access is logged

Every access to a record is written to an append-only audit log, enforced at the database level — entries can be added, never edited or removed. Access to clinical data at Akoua is limited, logged and reviewed; nothing is looked at silently. On the UK Sovereign region, remote access for support and platform administration may occur from Australia — exceptional rather than routine, scoped to the task, authenticated, and written to the same append-only log; the UK privacy notice sets out the safeguard. Akoua doesn’t yet hold formal certifications — they’re on the roadmap, and we’d rather say that plainly than imply otherwise.

After you confirm

By default the copy Akoua holds is deleted the moment you confirm the note; on a fixed-window practice policy it goes at that deadline, and an automatic sweep enforces the 7-day ceiling in every mode. After that point the question stops being about permissions — there is no recording to play.

The patient doesn’t receive the audio either. What they can take away is the QR deletion receipt, which is login-free, carries no patient details, and flips to “Verified” when Akoua’s copy has actually been deleted. It does not yet speak for third-party processors — those used on the Global profile, or the transcription and drafting providers in the European Union on UK Sovereign — what happens to consult audio draws that line.

If you ever need us to investigate something involving a consultation, keep patient details out of your support message — that’s covered in how to get help.

Related: what the audit log records, and the full picture on privacy by design.