Development and Validation of a Self-Administered Online Hearing Test.
Charlotte Vercammen, Olaf Strelcyk
PMID 40101250WHAT IT FOUND
A self-administered online hearing test correctly identified 83% of people with mild hearing loss and 94% of those with normal hearing in a home validation study.
It also estimates audiograms, though with some bias, and is intended for screening, not diagnosis.
Key findings
01In the validation study, the hearing test showed a sensitivity of 0.83 and specificity of 0.94 for screening mild hearing loss.
02The test correctly classified 83% of participants with hearing loss and 94% of participants with normal hearing.
03The median time to complete the test was 2.8 minutes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The validation sample was predominantly younger and had a low prevalence of hearing loss (15%), which affects the generalizability of the positive predictive value to older or higher-risk populations. The estimated audiograms showed greater bias in participants with normal hearing, particularly those with very good thresholds (negative dB HL), because the algorithm was trained on a sample with more hearing loss. The test relies on self-reported hearing difficulties, which can lead to misclassification if a patient's perception does not match their clinical audiogram. The study was funded by a hearing aid manufacturer, and two authors are employed by the company.
Declared interests
Two authors are employed by Sonova, a hearing aid manufacturer, which funded the study and provided research materials. The authors state this did not influence the study design, analysis, or reporting.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the estimated audiogram for diagnosis or hearing aid fitting without clinical verification. The test is a screening tool, and while it has high specificity, the estimation of thresholds can be inaccurate, especially in individuals with normal hearing or unusual audiogram shapes.