e-Health Technologies for Adult Hearing Screening

Area of Science:

• Audiology and Hearing Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Public Health

Background:

• Hearing diagnosis and screening methods are influenced by cultural, medical, and engineering advancements.
• Adults and the elderly often experience hearing difficulties in noisy environments, necessitating targeted screening.
• Technological evolution facilitates the development of fast, easy, and reliable low-cost hearing screening initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in hearing screening methods, focusing on speech-in-noise tests.
• To explore the role of e-Health and telemedicine in remote hearing status evaluation.
• To discuss the utilization of telephone networks and the internet for hearing test distribution.

Main Methods:

• Development of portable, battery-operated devices for speech-in-noise tests.
• Distribution of hearing tests via ordinary telephone networks (digit triplet test).
• Internet-based hearing assessments including questionnaires, speech-in-noise tests, and psychoacoustic evaluations.

Main Results:

• Speech-in-noise tests are effective in targeting real-world listening difficulties.
• Telephone-based digit triplet tests are available in multiple countries.
• Internet platforms offer diverse assessment types but face calibration challenges (timing, output levels, presentation modes).

Conclusions:

• Remote hearing evaluation through e-Health and telemedicine is increasingly feasible.
• Speech-in-noise tests are crucial for assessing functional hearing in challenging conditions.
• While internet-based assessments offer potential, calibration issues currently limit their widespread validated use.