Calibration and initial validation of a low-cost computer-based screening audiometer coupled to consumer insert phone-earmuff combination for boothless audiometry

To undertake calibration and preliminary validation of a custom-designed computer-based screening audiometer connected to consumer insert phone-earmuff combination for adult pure tone audiometry. Part 1 involved electroacoustic measurement and biological calibration of a laptop-earphone pair used for the computer-based audiometry (CBA). Part 2 compared CBA thresholds obtained without a sound booth with those measured using the gold-standard clinical audiometry. 17 young normal-hearing volunteers (Part 1) and 43 normal and hearing loss subjects (Part 2) recruited from an audiology clinic via convenience sampling. The transducer-device combination produced outputs suitable for measuring thresholds down to 0 dB HL. Threshold pairs obtained from the CBA and clinical audiometry were highly correlated (Spearman’s correlation coefficient, ρ = 0.92, p < 0.0001) and had a good degree of agreement (mean difference of −1.06 ± 7.63 dB). Also, the CBA showed about 90% sensitivity and 80% specificity for detecting hearing loss based on low (0.5, 1, 2 kHz) and high frequency (4, 8 kHz) pure tone averages of >25 dB HL. The use of a computer-based audiometer application with consumer insert phone-earmuff combination can offer a cost-effective solution for boothless screening audiometry.

本研究旨在对一款定制的、连接消费级插入式耳机-耳罩组合设备的计算机筛查听力计进行校准与初步验证，以用于成人纯音测听。第一部分针对本次计算机辅助测听（computer-based audiometry, CBA）所用的笔记本电脑-耳机组合开展电声测量与生物校准。第二部分则对比了无隔音室条件下获取的CBA测听阈值与金标准临床听力测量所得的阈值。本研究通过便利抽样法从听力诊所招募了17名青年正常听力志愿者（用于第一部分）以及43名涵盖听力正常与听力损失的受试者（用于第二部分）。该换能器-设备组合可产生适用于测量低至0 dB 听力级（hearing level, HL）阈值的声输出。CBA与临床测听所得的阈值配对结果呈现高度相关性（斯皮尔曼相关系数ρ=0.92，p<0.0001），且一致性良好，平均差值为-1.06±7.63 dB。此外，基于低频（0.5、1、2 kHz）与高频（4、8 kHz）纯音均值＞25 dB HL的听力损失判定标准，CBA的检测灵敏度约为90%，特异度约为80%。采用搭载消费级插入式耳机-耳罩组合的计算机听力计应用程序，可为无隔音室的筛查性听力测量提供一种高性价比的解决方案。