ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2020
Screening for Hearing Impairment in Older Adults by Smartphone-Based Audiometry, Self-Perception, HHIE Screening Questionnaire, and Free-Field Voice Test: Comparative Evaluation of the Screening Accuracy With Standard Pure-Tone Audiometry.
Article in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and safety of antivirals in treating hearing loss: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Diagnostic Accuracy of Smartphone-Based Audiometry for Hearing Loss Detection: Meta-analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Pooled it
- Article
- Clinical Performance of a Smartphone-Based Sound Amplification Device Versus a Personal Sound Amplification Product in Elders with Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss: A Prospective Cohort Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Self-Perceived Hearing Handicap and Audiometric Severity in Age-Related Hearing Loss: Associations with Age and Sex.Audiology research · 2026Article
- Identifying Hearing Loss and Audiological Rehabilitation Candidacy Through Self-Perceived Hearing Handicap Using the Croatian Version of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening (HHIE-S-CRO).Audiology research · 2025Article
- A composite risk score to identify older adults at high risk of hearing loss in a community screening program.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Evaluating the diagnostic accuracy and reliability of mobile audiometry for screening hearing loss in adults in comparison to pure tone audiometry.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
- Can hearing screening criteria at general health checkups be an indirect indicator of frailty and cognitive deficit in the older population? - with prevalence estimates based on updated World Health Organization hearing loss classification.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 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
- Accuracy and Pitfalls in the Smartphone-Based Audiometry Examination.Iranian journal of otorhinolaryngology · 2024Article
- Optimizing age-related hearing risk predictions: an advanced machine learning integration with HHIE-S.BioData mining · 2023Article
- Vision impairment, hearing impairment and functional Limitations of subjective cognitive decline: a population-based study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Comparison of personal sound amplification products and conventional hearing aids for patients with hearing loss: A systematic review with meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
- Real-World Effectiveness of Wearable Augmented Reality Device for Patients With Hearing Loss: Prospective Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Article
- Validation of a Personalized Hearing Screening Mobile Health Application for Persons with Moderate Hearing Impairment.Journal of personalized medicine · 2021Article
- Are conversation and whispered voice hearing tests comparable to pure tone audiometry for assessment of hearing loss? A retrospective analysis.Medical journal, Armed Forces IndiaArticle
- Screening for hearing loss using the electronic whisper test: A prospective cross-sectional study.International journal of critical illness and injury scienceArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHearing impairment is the most frequent sensory deficit in humans, affecting more than 360 million people worldwide. In fact, hearing impairment is not merely a health problem, but it also has a great impact on the educational performance, economic income, and quality of life. Hearing impairment is therefore an important social concern.
objectiveWe aimed to evaluate and compare the accuracy of self-perception, Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening (HHIE-S) questionnaire, free-field voice test, and smartphone-based audiometry as tests for screening moderate hearing impairment in older adults in China.
methodsIn this study, 41 patients were recruited through a single otology practice. All patients were older than 65 years. Patients with otorrhea and cognitive impairment were excluded. Moderate hearing impairment was defined as mean hearing thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz >40 dB hearing loss (pure-tone average > 40 dB hearing loss). All patients completed 5 hearing tests, namely, the self-perception test, HHIE-S questionnaire test, free-field voice test, smartphone-based audiometry test, and standard pure-tone audiometry by the same audiologist. We compared the results of these tests to the standard audiogram in the better-hearing ear.
resultsThe sensitivity and the specificity of the self-perception test were 0.58 (95% CI 0.29-0.84) and 0.34 (95% CI 0.19-0.54), respectively. The sensitivity and the specificity of the HHIE-S questionnaire test were 0.67 (95% CI 0.35-0.89) and 0.31 (95% CI 0.316-0.51), respectively. The sensitivity and the specificity of the free-field voice test were 0.83 (95% CI 0.51-0.97) and 0.41 (95% CI 0.24-0.61), respectively. The sensitivity and the specificity of the smartphone-based audiometry test were 0.92 (95% CI 0.60-0.99) and 0.76 (95% CI 0.56-0.89), respectively. Smartphone-based audiometry correctly diagnosed the presence of hearing loss with high sensitivity and high specificity.
conclusionsSmartphone-based audiometry may be a dependable screening test to rule out moderate hearing impairment in the older population.
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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.