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Application of a low-cost instrument to identify risk for hearing disorders in a municipal health network
Monize Menon1, Seisse Gabriela Gandolfi Sanches1, Alessandra Giannella Samelli1
1Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo - USP - São Paulo (SP), Brasil.
Insights
The PETIT application, an automated tablet-based hearing screening, shows high accuracy (99.18%) in identifying hearing impairment risk in school children, outperforming traditional methods.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Public Health Screening
- Educational Technology
Background:
- Hearing impairment affects school-aged children, impacting development and learning.
- Early identification of hearing loss is crucial for timely intervention.
- Conventional screening methods may have limitations in accuracy and efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the performance of the PETIT application (automated tablet-based screening) with conventional sweep screening.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of PETIT in identifying hearing impairment risk in school-aged children.
- To assess the utility of passive noise-canceling headphones in automated hearing screening.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional observational study involving 122 children (5-8 years old).
- Procedures included otoscopy, automated tablet-based screening (PETIT) with noise-canceling headphones, and conventional sweep screening.
- Statistical analysis involved logistic regression, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy calculations. Pure-tone audiometry was used for a subset of participants.
Main Results:
- Significant association found between PETIT and sweep screening results.
- PETIT demonstrated high performance: 85.7% sensitivity, 100% specificity, and 99.18% accuracy.
- Conventional audiometry was a significant predictor for sweep screening performance.
Conclusions:
- The PETIT application shows promising applicability for school-based hearing impairment screening.
- Automated tablet-based screening offers a highly accurate and efficient alternative.
- This technology can aid in the early identification of hearing risks in children.
Purpose:
To evaluate the performance of the PETIT application (automated tablet-based screening) compared with conventional sweep screening in identifying the risk of hearing impairment in school-aged children, using headphones with passive noise cancellation.
Methods:
Cross-sectional observational study including 122 children (aged 5 to 8 years) from the public school of Santana de Parnaíba. The following procedures were performed: otoscopy; automated hearing screening via tablet (with Sennheiser HD-280 headphones); and conventional sweep screening. Part of the sample also underwent pure-tone audiometry. Statistical analysis used binomial and binary logistic regression tests, along with the calculation of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.
Results:
There was significant association between the results of the sweep screening and PETIT, as well as the coefficient of the predictor variable (conventional audiometry) was significant to the performance in the sweep screening. For PETIT, a sensitivity of 85.7%, specificity of 100%, and accuracy of 99.18% were observed.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that this tool has promising applicability in schools for identifying children at risk of hearing impairments.
