Evaluating the Reliability of 'AudiClick': A Click-Based Mobile App for Hearing Loss

Document Type : Original

Authors

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abstract

Introduction:
To develop and validate a click-based mobile “Audiclick” app employing click noises for hearing assessments.
Materials and Methods:
This prospective comparative study compares the “AudiClick” app as a hearing screening tool to pure tone audiometry. Participants listened to sounds through wired earbud headphones that were connected to an Android or iOS device.
Results:
The study involved 110 participants aged between 18 to 80 years old. All degrees of hearing loss severity corresponds to pure tone average (p < 0.01) results. The app was also found to be effective at identifying hearing loss (80-99% sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and accuracy). Test-retest reliability had also shown excellent ICC scores of 0.93.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates that a mobile app using click sounds can be as efficient as pure tone audiometry for field screenings, while being more cost-effective and easier to develop.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Iranian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology
Volume 36, Issue 4
July and August 2024
Pages 551-558

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