Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 24, 2026
An Automated System for Sound Localization Testing in Hearing-Impaired Listeners
Published on: March 13, 2026
A calibrated mobile application for automated estimation of audiometric thresholds and temporal resolution
Ghazaleh Ghaffari1, Fredrik Öhberg2, Mimmi Werner3
1Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Objectives:
While there are several consumer mobile applications for hearing assessment, only a few have been clinically studied. Nevertheless, none of them accounts for underlying hardware differences. Moreover, there is currently no app available to assess the user's capability of resolving temporal cues (i.e. temporal resolution), which is vital for speech perception and sound localisation. To address these limitations, we developed an Android app that adapts to the frequency response of Bluetooth-enabled headphones and conducts pure-tone audiometry and a temporal masking (TM) test.
Design And Study Sample:
24 normal-hearing and 24 hearing-impaired individuals (mean age = 49.2 and 59.0 years, respectively) were recruited. Clinical audiometry was conducted according to ISO8253-:2010 at 250 to 8000 Hz. The app-based audiometry was conducted at the same frequencies. A TM paradigm was implemented and conducted at gap durations of 5,10,20,40, and 80 ms.
Results:
App-based audiometry results closely matched the clinical measurements. Linear mixed models revealed no significant differences between the two methods. The correlation between the two methods was significant (p<.001) and strong (r=.90). Our TM method provided a quick estimate of auditory temporal resolution at 500, 2000, and 4000 Hz.
Conclusion:
The app can accurately and quickly estimate the user's clinical audiogram and temporal resolution.
