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Smartphone and Mobile Health Apps for Tinnitus: Systematic Identification, Analysis, and Assessment.
Muntazir Mehdi1, Michael Stach2, Constanze Riha3
1Institute of Distributed Systems, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth
|August 19, 2020
Summary
This study reviewed smartphone apps for tinnitus relief, finding many available but lacking scientific evidence. Future research should focus on clinical validation for these health apps.
Area of Science:
- Digital Health
- Mobile Health (mHealth)
- Otolaryngology
Background:
- Smartphones are integral to daily life, offering high computational power and accessible app ecosystems.
- Health and medical applications are increasingly common, including those for managing tinnitus, a phantom auditory perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide an up-to-date overview of existing smartphone applications designed to address tinnitus.
- To systematically identify and evaluate the quality and user experience of these tinnitus-related apps.
Main Methods:
- Systematic search of Google Play Store and Apple App Store based on PRISMA guidelines.
- Evaluation of identified apps using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) for quality and user experience.
- Assessment of interrater agreement, internal consistency, and reliability.
Main Results:
- A total of 34 apps (34 Android, 26 iOS) were identified.
- Mean MARS scores ranged from 2.65 to 4.60, indicating varying levels of quality.
- High interrater agreement (κ=0.74) and reliability (ICC=0.94) were observed.
Conclusions:
- A wide array of smartphone apps for tinnitus management are available.
- While apps show technical functionality (MARS > 2), most lack scientific evidence and require clinical validation.
- This study is the first to systematically identify and evaluate tinnitus smartphone apps.
