ReviewJMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologies2016
Validated Smartphone-Based Apps for Ear and Hearing Assessments: A Review.
Review in JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologies, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 159 citations in OpenAlex.
- Smartphone Apps in the Context of Tinnitus: Systematic Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Consumer preferences for hearing health care information and services as described by older adults surveyed in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Evaluating the Accuracy and User Satisfaction of Culturally-Relevant Kannada-Based Hearing Screening App Compared to Technical Screening Method.International archives of otorhinolaryngology · 2026Article
- The Accuracy of Self-Administered Web- and App-Based Tools for Audiometric Tests-A Systematic Review.Audiology research · 2025Review
- Validating Smartphone-Based and Web-Based Applications for Remote Hearing Assessment.Journal of the American Academy of Audiology · 2025Article
- Evaluating the accuracy of a self-administered smartphone hearing test application in a geriatric population.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2025Article
- Criterion validity of five open-source app-based cognitive and sensory tasks in an Australian adult life course sample aged 18 to 82: Labs without walls.Behavior research methods · 2025Article
- Development and Beta Validation of an mHealth-Based Hearing Screener (SRESHT) for Young Children in Resource-Limited Countries: Pilot Validation Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Prediction of Hearing Help Seeking to Design a Recommendation Module of an mHealth Hearing App: Intensive Longitudinal Study of Feature Importance Assessment.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Reliability of an Android Based Free Application for Assessment of Hearing Loss in Adults.Indian journal of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery : official publication of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India · 2024Article
- Digital otoscopy in remote consultations.Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology · 2024Article
- Tools for telehealth: A correlational analysis of app-based hearing testing.Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology · 2024Article
- Assessing the accuracy and reliability of application-based audiometry for hearing evaluation.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Accuracy and Pitfalls in the Smartphone-Based Audiometry Examination.Iranian journal of otorhinolaryngology · 2024Article
- What's New in Ototoxicity Management?Perspectives of the ASHA special interest groups · 2024Article
- New Age Hearing Testing at your Fingertips: Shravana Mitra App.Indian journal of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery : official publication of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India · 2024Article
- An Initial Validation of Community-Based Air-Conduction Audiometry in Adults With Simulated Hearing Impairment Using a New Web App, DigiBel: Validation Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Optimizing age-related hearing risk predictions: an advanced machine learning integration with HHIE-S.BioData mining · 2023Article
- Co-Creating a Digital Life-Integrated Self-Assessment for Older Adults: User Experience Study.JMIR aging · 2023Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAn estimated 360 million people have a disabling hearing impairment globally, the vast majority of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Early identification through screening is important to negate the negative effects of untreated hearing impairment. Substantial barriers exist in screening for hearing impairment in LMICs, such as the requirement for skilled hearing health care professionals and prohibitively expensive specialist equipment to measure hearing. These challenges may be overcome through utilization of increasingly available smartphone app technologies for ear and hearing assessments that are easy to use by unskilled professionals.
objectiveOur objective was to identify and compare available apps for ear and hearing assessments and consider the incorporation of such apps into hearing screening programs.
methodsIn July 2015, the commercial app stores Google Play and Apple App Store were searched to identify apps for ear and hearing assessments. Thereafter, six databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE, Global Health, Web of Science, CINAHL, and mHealth Evidence) were searched to assess which of the apps identified in the commercial review had been validated against gold standard measures. A comparison was made between validated apps.
resultsApp store search queries returned 30 apps that could be used for ear and hearing assessments, the majority of which are for performing audiometry. The literature search identified 11 eligible validity studies that examined 6 different apps. uHear, an app for self-administered audiometry, was validated in the highest number of peer reviewed studies against gold standard pure tone audiometry (n=5). However, the accuracy of uHear varied across these studies.
conclusionsVery few of the available apps have been validated in peer-reviewed studies. Of the apps that have been validated, further independent research is required to fully understand their accuracy at detecting ear and hearing conditions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.