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 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.本研究旨在对一款专为成人纯音测听设计、配套消费级入耳式耳机-耳罩组合的计算机筛查型听力计，开展校准与初步验证工作。第一部分针对本计算机辅助测听（Computer-based Audiometry, CBA）所用的笔记本电脑-耳机组合，完成电声测量与生物校准。第二部分对比了无隔音测听室条件下，CBA测得的听阈与金标准临床听力测听所得的听阈。本研究通过便利抽样法从某听力诊所招募受试者：第一部分纳入17名年轻听力正常志愿者，第二部分纳入43名听力正常及存在听力损失的受试者。该换能器-设备组合可输出适用于测量低至0 dB 听力级（dB HL）听阈的声学信号。在所有频率区间以及听阈≤25 dB HL的受试者中，计算机辅助测听与临床听力测听所得的听阈对具有极高相关性（斯皮尔曼相关系数ρ=0.92，p<0.001）。采用消费级入耳式耳机-耳罩组合的计算机辅助测听应用，可为无隔音室的筛查型听力测听提供一种高性价比的解决方案。