Home-Based Audiometry With a Smartphone App: Reliable Results?

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Mobile Health Technology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Smartphone applications are increasingly used for health monitoring.
• Accurate hearing assessments are crucial for early detection and management of hearing loss.
• Unsupervised hearing tests require robust validation for clinical utility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the test-retest reliability of a smartphone-based hearing test (DuoTone).
• To compare the accuracy of the DuoTone app against standard clinical audiometry.
• To assess the feasibility of unsupervised hearing testing in uncontrolled environments.

Main Methods:

• The DuoTone app incorporates ambient noise monitoring and a graphical user interface for quality control.
• Hearing thresholds from the app were compared to traditional audiometry in 13 subjects.
• Test-retest reliability was analyzed using cloud-stored data from 1,641 app users across 12 frequencies.

Main Results:

• DuoTone-obtained thresholds showed no significant difference compared to clinical audiometry.
• Test-retest results within 5 dB ranged from 60% to 77% across frequencies.
• Reliability in app users was comparable to in-clinic audiometry test-retest reliability.

Conclusions:

• The DuoTone smartphone hearing test demonstrates accuracy comparable to clinical audiometry.
• The app provides reliable hearing threshold measurements between 15 and 80 dB HL.
• Smartphone-based hearing tests offer a viable, reliable alternative for hearing assessment.