title: Smartphone hearing screening with integrated quality control and data management.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if a smartphone application could be used as a calibrated screening audiometer with real-time noise monitoring for school screening using automated test sequences.
  
  
  METHODS
  The investigation comprised three studies. Study 1 evaluated calibration accuracy across four Samsung S5301 smartphones (Android v4.0.4) using commercial Sennheiser HD202 headphones. Study 2 involved referencing smartphone microphone sensitivity to narrowband noise intensity as measured in octave bands by a sound-level meter between 30 and 75 dB SPL (5 dB increments). Study 3 compared screening outcomes of smartphone based and conventional hearing screening.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study 2: 15 normal-hearing subjects (age range, 18-22 years; all female). Study 3: 162 children (324 ears) aged 5 to 7 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Smartphone calibration at 20, 30, and 40 dB was within 1 dB of recommended reference equivalent thresholds levels. Microphone calibration for noise monitoring had maximum variability across phones of 0.9, 0.6, and 2.9 dB at 1, 2, and 4 kHz, respectively, from reference intensities (30 to 75 dB SPL). Screening outcomes demonstrated no significant difference between smartphone and conventional audiometry with an overall referral rate of 4.3% and 3.7%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The newly developed smartphone application can be accurately calibrated for audiometry with valid real-time noise monitoring, and clinical results are comparable to conventional screening.
authors.affiliation: * Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology , University of Pretoria, Pretoria , South Africa.
authors.forename: De Wet
authors.initials: de W
authors.lastname: Swanepoel
authors.forename: Hermanus C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Myburgh
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Howe
authors.forename: Faheema
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mahomed
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Eikelboom
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002138:Calibration; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006320:Hearing Tests / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D011786:Quality Control; D013018:Sound Spectrography / Q000295:instrumentation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ambient noise; audiometry; calibration; childhood hearing loss; hearing screening; pure-tone audiometry; school screening