New Age Hearing Testing at your Fingertips: Shravana Mitra App

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Mobile Health Technology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Disabling hearing loss affects 5% of the global population, necessitating regular hearing assessments.
• Traditional pure tone audiometry (PTA) requires specialized equipment, trained personnel, and soundproof environments, posing accessibility challenges.
• Modern technology offers potential solutions to overcome barriers in hearing assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel Android-based mobile application, "Shravana Mitra," for hearing assessment.
• To incorporate both air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) testing features within the application.
• To validate and compare the accuracy of smartphone-based audiometry with conventional PTA.

Main Methods:

• The study involved three phases: mobile application development, validation in healthy individuals, and a cross-sectional observational study.
• The final phase included 780 outpatients aged 10-60 years for testing and comparison with PTA.
• Data collection focused on comparing app-derived thresholds with PTA results.

Main Results:

• The study population had a mean age of 32.89 years, with a female majority (57%).
• For air conduction (AC) testing, 83% of the mobile application's pure tone average fell within 5 dB of PTA thresholds, and 99% were within 10 dB.
• For bone conduction (BC) testing, 81% of results were within 5 dB of PTA thresholds, and 98% were within 10 dB.

Conclusions:

• The developed mobile application, "Shravana Mitra," is the first Indian app on Google Play offering both AC and BC testing.
• The app demonstrates accuracy comparable to traditional PTA, making it a viable hearing screening tool.
• Its user-friendly interface and accessibility make it suitable for camps, high-risk individuals, and initial hearing assessments in various healthcare settings.