Saxena Pavitra, Raghavan Dilip
Military Hospital, Agra, Agra, India.
CMO South, SNC, Kochi, India.
Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2024 Aug;76(4):3122-3127. doi: 10.1007/s12070-024-04626-7. Epub 2024 Apr 26.
Hearing loss is an important health care concern. Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) is considered Gold Standard for audiometric evaluations though, there exist a huge variance between the demand and the actual services available. As smartphones are mobile, applications are upgradable, results are reproducible, the mobile applications may offer a good screening tool, especially in remote areas. There are many smartphone-based hearing applications which are already in use. However, effectiveness of such applications needs to be validated. To evaluate the reliability of 'Hearing Test' a phone application against PTA for assessment of hearing thresholds in adults. We conducted a diagnostic study on a heterogenous group of 250 individuals irrespective of their hearing levels. The hearing thresholds for both ears were measured by PTA and phone app and then compared statistically. The agreement between the methods were statistically significant with respect to diagnosing hearing loss and the degree of hearing loss. Though, PTA remains Gold Standard for hearing evaluation but freely available, highly reproducible & specific 'Hearing Test' application could be used as a screening tool in remote areas and may help bridging the gap between the requirement and availability of diagnostic audiometric services.
听力损失是一个重要的医疗保健问题。纯音听力测试（PTA）被认为是听力评估的金标准，不过，需求与实际可获得的服务之间存在巨大差异。由于智能手机便于携带、应用程序可升级、结果可重现，移动应用程序可能会提供一个很好的筛查工具，尤其是在偏远地区。目前已有许多基于智能手机的听力应用程序在使用。然而，此类应用程序的有效性需要得到验证。为了评估一款名为“听力测试”的手机应用程序相对于PTA在评估成人听力阈值方面的可靠性。我们对250名不同听力水平的个体组成的异质性群体进行了一项诊断研究。通过PTA和手机应用程序测量双耳的听力阈值，然后进行统计学比较。在诊断听力损失和听力损失程度方面，两种方法之间的一致性具有统计学意义。虽然，PTA仍然是听力评估的金标准，但免费、高度可重现且特定的“听力测试”应用程序可在偏远地区用作筛查工具，并可能有助于弥合诊断听力服务的需求与可获得性之间的差距。
