Development and evaluation of an audiology app for iPhone/iPad mobile devices

Abstract

The application described in this study appears to be accurate and valid, thus allowing calculation of a hearing handicap and assessment of the pure-tone air conduction threshold with iPhone/iPad devices. Objective: To develop and evaluate a newly developed professional, computer-based hearing handicap calculator and a manual hearing sensitivity assessment test for the iPhone and iPad (AudCal). Methods: Multi-center prospective non-randomized validation study. One hundred and ten consecutive adult participants underwent two hearing evaluations, a standard audiometry and a pure-tone air conduction test using AudCal with an iOS device. The hearing handicap calculation accuracy was evaluated comparing AudCal vs a web-based calculator. Results: Hearing loss was found in 83 and 84 out of 220 standard audiometries and AudCal hearing tests (Cohen’s Kappa = 0.89). The mean difference between AudCal and standard audiogram thresholds was −0.21 ± 6.38 dB HL. Excellent reliability and concordance between standard audiometry and the application’s hearing loss assessment test were obtained (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.96; intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.93). AudCal vs a web-based calculator were perfectly correlated (Pearson’s r = 1).