Calibration and Validation of Mobile Portable Terminal Audiometry Devices
WU Qian
ZHONG Bo
ZHANG Dongmei
CHEN Wei
JI Fei
Abstract：Objective To report authors'experience in calibration of mobile terminal audiometry devices to ensure the consistency in audiometry results between calibrated mobile terminals and the standard audiometer,as a novel idea and methodology for accurate remote audiometry.Methods The mobile terminal audiometry system used in this study consisted of the"Silver Hair Hearing Health"WeChat mini-program,iPhone 12 and SENNHEISER HD200 PRO headphones.Calibration included objective and subjective testing,with the latter being a subjective threshold comparison test to determine the zero-level on the headphones.Objective testing involves testing electroacoustic characteristic of the portable device,including frequency accuracy and air-conduction reference equivalent threshold sound pressure level.Clinical validation involved normal-hearing(n=14)and hearing-impaired(n=101)participants(230 ears in total)who visited the PLA General Hospital in April 2023.Pure-tone thresholds from the mini-program and clinical audiometer were compared in a soundproof booth.Results The WeChat mini-program with the mobile terminal device passed calibration.Validation was completed for 0.5 kHz(191 ears),1 kHz(96 ears),2 kHz(71 ears),4 kHz(75 ears)and 8 kHz(69 ears),with threshold differences at(3.063±5.172),(0.313±6.602),(0.282±4.382),(1.733±7.645)and(2.101±6.440)dB,respectively,and the percentage of absolute threshold differences within 10 dB at 97.38%,96.88%,98.60%,90.67%and 92.75%,respectively.The correlation coefficient r was 0.68 for the hearing normal group and 0.97 for the hearing loss group,respectively(P<0.01).Conclusion Before applying mobile terminal audiometry in large-scale screening,it is critical to calibrate the audiometry equipment both subjectively and objectively to ensure accurate results.Once calibrated,pure tone thresholds measured by the mobile terminal audiometry are essentially consistent with those measured by the conventional audiometer in a soundproof room.
Keywords：pure-tone audiometrycalibrationclinical validation
Publication Date：2025-07-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 539-544 )