Smartphone hearing screening in mHealth assisted community-based primary care

Hussein, Shouneez Yousuf; Swanepoel, De Wet; Jager, Leigh Biagio–de; Myburgh, Hermanus Carel; Eikelboom, Robert H.; Hugo, Jannie

doi:10.1177/1357633x15610721

Cited by 99 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(118 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Results and corresponding noise levels analyzed on the centralized cloud-based server indicated that only noise levels at 1 kHz had a significant effect on referral rates obtained in comparison to 2 and 4 kHz test frequencies. Previous studies using the hearScreen TM application also reported similar effects when testing at the lower frequency of 1 kHz [21–23]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Increasing screening intensities to 30 dB HL at 1 kHz to compensate for high noise levels in future community-based studies could reduce the incidence of exceeded MPANLs and false-positive results, but may decrease the validity of the screening process as mild losses may be missed [23,29]. The European Consensus Statement on Hearing, Vision, and Speech Screening in Pre-School and School-age Children indicated that although hearing screenings will produce over-referrals, false positives are preferred over false negatives [33].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The hearScreen TM mHealth solution allows for pre-specified screening protocols with automated sequences to be employed by non-specialist personnel [21,23]. This means generalist healthcare workers or schoolteachers can be trained to operate the device, after which patient-specific data and results collected on the smartphone application can be uploaded to a centralized cloud-based server through cellular networks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Community-based hearing screening for young children using an mHealth service-delivery model

Hussein

Swanepoel

Mahomed

et al. 2018

Global Health Action

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Hearing loss is one of the most common developmental disorders identifiable at birth with its prevalence increasing throughout school years. However, early detection programs are mostly unavailable in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where more than 80% of children with hearing loss reside.Objective: This study investigated the feasibility of a smartphone-based hearing screening program for preschool children operated by community healthcare workers (CHWs) in community-based early childhood development (ECD) centers.Method: Five CHWs were trained to map ECD centers and conduct smartphone-based hearing screenings within a poor community in South Africa over a 12-month period. The hearScreenTM smartphone application employed automated test protocols operating on low-cost smartphones. A cloud-based data management and referral function allowed for remote monitoring for surveillance and follow up.Results: 6424 children (3–6 years) were screened for hearing loss with an overall referral rate of 24.9%. Only 39.4% of these children attended their follow-up appointment at a local clinic, of whom 40.5% referred on their second screening. Logistic regression analysis indicated that age, gender and environmental noise levels (1 kHz) had a significant effect on referral rates (p < 0.05). The quality index reflecting test operator test quality increased during the first few months of testing.Conclusion: Smartphone-based hearing screening can be used by CHWs to detect unidentified children affected by hearing loss within ECD centers. Active noise monitoring, quality indices of test operators and cloud-based data management and referral features of the hearScreenTM application allows for the asynchronous management of hearing screenings and follow-ups.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Community-based hearing screening for young children using an mHealth service-delivery model

Hussein

Swanepoel

Mahomed

et al. 2018

Global Health Action

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Findings of the study indicated that, of the 5 children who failed the screening due to noise, 3 of these children did in fact have a hearing loss (Mahomed-Asmail et al, 2016b). Furthermore, a study conducted by Yousuf Hussein, Swanepoel, Biagio de Jager, Myburgh, Eikelboom & Hugo (2015) found that, in children, exceeded MPANLs had a significant impact on passing or failing the hearing screening. However, in adults, exceeded MPANLs did not impact the outcome of the hearing screening (Yousuf Hussein et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated Smartphone Threshold Audiometry: Validity and Time Efficiency

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Smartphone-based threshold audiometry with automated testing has the potential to provide affordable access to audiometry in underserved contexts.To validate the threshold version (hearTest) of the validated hearScreen™ smartphone-based application using inexpensive smartphones (Android operating system) and calibrated supra-aural headphones.A repeated measures within-participant study design was employed to compare air-conduction thresholds (0.5–8 kHz) obtained through automated smartphone audiometry to thresholds obtained through conventional audiometry.A total of 95 participants were included in the study. Of these, 30 were adults, who had known bilateral hearing losses of varying degrees (mean age = 59 yr, standard deviation [SD] = 21.8; 56.7% female), and 65 were adolescents (mean age = 16.5 yr, SD = 1.2; 70.8% female), of which 61 had normal hearing and the remaining 4 had mild hearing losses.Threshold comparisons were made between the two test procedures. The Wilcoxon signed-ranked test was used for comparison of threshold correspondence between manual and smartphone thresholds and the paired samples t test was used to compare test time.Within the adult sample, 94.4% of thresholds obtained through smartphone and conventional audiometry corresponded within 10 dB or less. There was no significant difference between smartphone (6.75-min average, SD = 1.5) and conventional audiometry test duration (6.65-min average, SD = 2.5). Within the adolescent sample, 84.7% of thresholds obtained at 0.5, 2, and 4 kHz with hearTest and conventional audiometry corresponded within ≤5 dB. At 1 kHz, 79.3% of the thresholds differed by ≤10 dB. There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) between smartphone (7.09 min, SD = 1.2) and conventional audiometry test duration (3.23 min, SD = 0.6).The hearTest application with calibrated supra-aural headphones provides a cost-effective option to determine valid air-conduction hearing thresholds.

show abstract

“…He proposed and validated the ability of using the tablet for hearing assessment. Shouneez, et al [21] investigated the community-based identification of hearing loss using smartphone. He found that smartphone-based hearing screening allowed community health workers to bring hearing health care to undeserved communities at the primary care level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Tablet-Based Mobile Hearing Screening System for Preschoolers: Design and Validation Study (Preprint)

Yimtae¹,

Israsena²,

Thanawirattananit³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Hearing ability is important for children to develop speech and language skills as they grow. After a mandatory newborn hearing screening, group or mass screening of children at later age such as preschoolers are usually practiced. In order for this to be effective and accessible in low-resource countries such as Thailand, novel and innovative enabling tools that make use of pervasive mobile and smartphone technology should be considered. Objective: To develop a cost effective, tablet-based hearing screening system that can perform a rapid minimal speech recognition level test. Methods: An android-based screening application was developed. The screening protocol involved asking the child to pick pictures corresponding to the set of predefined words heard at different sound levels offered in a specifically designed sequence. For the application, the set of words were validated, with their corresponding speech power levels calibrated. 63 Children were screened for their hearing abilities using the application. Results in terms of sensitivity and specificity are compared to those measured using conventional audiometric equipment. Results: For screening purposes, the developed screening system was 100% sensitive (95% CI = 83.18% to 100%) for children with speech reception threshold (SRT) or pure tone average threshold > 25 dBHL, with a specificity 0f 79.44% (95% CI = 70.83% to

show abstract

Smartphone hearing screening in mHealth assisted community-based primary care

Cited by 99 publications

References 40 publications

Community-based hearing screening for young children using an mHealth service-delivery model

Community-based hearing screening for young children using an mHealth service-delivery model

Automated Smartphone Threshold Audiometry: Validity and Time Efficiency

A Tablet-Based Mobile Hearing Screening System for Preschoolers: Design and Validation Study (Preprint)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About