title: Automated screening audiometry in the digital age: exploring uhear™ and its use in a resource-stricken developing country.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The current study aimed to determine the accuracy of UHear™, a downloadable audiometer on to an iPod Touch©, when compared with conventional audiometry.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were enrolled primary school scholars. A total number of eighty-six participants (172 ears) were included. Of these eighty-six participants, forty-four were female and forty-two were male; with the age ranging from 8 years to 10 years (mean age, 9.0 years). Each participant underwent two audiological screening evaluations; one by means of conventional audiometry and the other by means of UHear™. Otoscopy and tympanometry was performed on each participant to determine status of their outer and middle ear before each participant undergoing pure tone air conduction screening by means of conventional audiometer and UHear™. The lowest audible hearing thresholds from each participant were obtained at conventional frequencies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the Paired t-test, it was determined that there was a significant statistical difference between hearing screening thresholds obtained from conventional audiometry and UHear™. The screening thresholds obtained from UHear™ were significantly elevated (worse) in comparison to conventional audiometry. The difference in thresholds may be attributed to differences in transducers used, ambient noise levels and lack of calibration of UHear™.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The UHear™ is not as accurate as conventional audiometry in determining hearing thresholds during screening of school-aged children. Caution needs to be exercised when using such measures and research evidence needs to be established before they can be endorsed and used with the general public.
authors.affiliation: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa. Katijah.Khoza@wits.ac.za
authors.forename: Katijah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Khoza-Shangase
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kassner
mesh_terms: D001299:Audiometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013019:South Africa