Pure tone audiometry as assessed by a commercially-available mobile phone application compared to formal audiometry

Comparison of audiometric measurements of commercially available smartphone audiogram application thresholds as compared to gold standard audiometric evaluation.

A single-institution, original contribution. Ninety consecutive adult patients presenting to a tertiary care auditory clinic with auditory complaints were evaluated using standard audiometric testing and an application-based hearing test. Correlation between app results and standard audiogram for air conduction pure tone thresholds was evaluated.

Mimi™ (Berlin, Germany) results for audiometric thresholds were moderately correlated with standard audiogram (r = 0.51-0.68) depending on severity. The percentage of patients whose hearing loss severity on formal audiometry results were accurately reflected in the Mimi™ (app-based hearing test: ABHT)¹ results ranged from 18.2 to 80 %. Among patients whose results were at the extremes of hearing performance, app and standard audiogram results were similar. ABHT yielded an overall sensitivity of 35.5 % and specificity of 97.1 % for normal hearing, and an overall sensitivity of 80 % and specificity of 96 % for severe hearing loss.

Results from an audiometric smart phone application showed accurate categorization of hearing loss at the high and extremes as compared to standard audiometry. However, correlation of pure tone values was more variable and dependent on hearing level.