De Sousa Karina C, Swanepoel De Wet, Moore David R, Smits Cas
Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
Ear Sciences Centre, School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands.
Am J Audiol. 2018 Nov 19;27(3S):448-454. doi: 10.1044/2018_AJA-IMIA3-18-0016.
The smartphone digits-in-noise hearing test, called hearZA, was made available as a self-test in South Africa in March 2016. This study determined characteristics and test performance of the listeners who took the test.
A retrospective analysis of 24,072 persons who completed a test between March 2016 and August 2017 was conducted. User characteristics, including age, English-speaking competence, and self-reported hearing difficulty, were analyzed. Regression analyses were conducted to determine predictors of the speech reception threshold.
Overall referral rate of the hearZA test was 22.4%, and 37% of these reported a known hearing difficulty. Age distributions showed that 33.2% of listeners were ages 30 years and younger, 40.5% were between ages 31 and 50 years, and 26.4% were older than 50 years. Age, self-reported English-speaking competence, and self-reported hearing difficulty were significant predictors of the speech reception threshold.
High test uptake, particularly among younger users, and high overall referral rate indicates that the hearZA app addresses a public health need. The test also reaches target audiences, including those with self-reported hearing difficulty and those with normal hearing who should monitor their hearing ability.
名为hearZA的智能手机噪声中数字听力测试于2016年3月在南非作为一项自测听力测试推出。本研究确定了进行该测试的受试者的特征及测试表现。
对2016年3月至2017年8月期间完成测试的24,072人进行回顾性分析。分析了包括年龄、英语语言能力以及自我报告的听力困难等用户特征。进行回归分析以确定言语接受阈值的预测因素。
hearZA测试的总体转诊率为22.4%，其中37%报告有已知的听力困难。年龄分布显示，33.2%的受试者年龄在30岁及以下，40.5%在31至50岁之间，26.4%超过50岁。年龄、自我报告的英语语言能力以及自我报告的听力困难是言语接受阈值的显著预测因素。
高测试参与率，尤其是在年轻用户中，以及高总体转诊率表明hearZA应用程序满足了一项公共卫生需求。该测试还覆盖了目标受众，包括那些自我报告有听力困难的人和那些听力正常但应监测其听力能力的人。
