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. 2022 Sep;18(5):399-404.
doi: 10.5152/iao.2022.21469.

Behavioral Evaluation of 3 Smartphone-Based Hearing Aid Apps for Patients with Mild Hearing Loss: An Exploratory Pilot Study

Miseung Koo  1 , Willy Nguyen  2 , Jun Ho Lee  3 , Seung-Ha Oh  3 , Moo Kyun Park  4
Affiliations

Behavioral Evaluation of 3 Smartphone-Based Hearing Aid Apps for Patients with Mild Hearing Loss: An Exploratory Pilot Study

Miseung Koo et al. J Int Adv Otol. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavioral performance of a selection of currently available hearing aid apps in patients with mild hearing loss.

Methods: We investigated 3 user-friendly hearing aid apps (EarMachine, Sound Amplifier, and Petralex) with real-ear measurement, warbletone audiometry, word recognition testing in unaided and aided conditions, and hearing-in-noise tests in quiet and noise-front conditions in a group of users with mild hearing impairment (n=7) as a pilot for a future long-term investigation. Results from the apps were compared with those of a conventional hearing aid.

Results: Hearing aids showed greater gain at 1 and 3 kHz than hearing aid apps in real-ear insertion gain of real-ear measurements. Hearing aids tended to have greater gain than hearing aid apps at 2 and 3 kHz in the sound field audiometry test. The clinical performance of the listeners tended to be better when using a hearing aid and Petralex (13% and 6% improvement in word recognition score, respectively), while EarMachine and Sound Amplifier conferred limited user benefit. The hearing aid apps did not improve signal-to-noise ratio in comparison with the unaided condition in the hearing-in-noise test.

Conclusions: Some hearing aid apps were beneficial for patients with mild hearing loss in terms of amplification, but participants using the apps showed no improvements in hearing-in-noise tests.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Real-ear insertion gain measured in subjects. REIG, real-ear insertion gains.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Average sound-field warble-tone thresholds under unaided and aided conditions via a hearing aid or one of 3 apps (Petralex, EarMachine, and Sound Amplifier).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Improvement in word recognition scores compared to the unaided condition via a hearing aid or one of 3 apps (EarMachine, Sound Amplifier, and Petralex). Error bars indicate standard deviation. HA, hearing aid; EM, EarMachine; SA, Sound Amplifier; Ptr, Petralex.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
HINT results in quiet (dotted line) and noisy (full line) conditions when participants were either unaided (UN) or aided (via a hearing aid or the EarMachine or Sound Amplifier apps). Error bars indicate standard deviation. EM, EarMachine; HA, hearing aid; HINT, hearing-in-noise test; SA, Sound Amplifier; SRT, speech reception threshold; SNR, signal-to-noise ratio.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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