Tag Archives: Hearing loss
Hearing screening for school children: Comparison of low-cost, computer-based and conventional audiometry
Resources
McPHERSON, B., Law, M.M.S. and Wong, M.S.M. Hearing screening for school children: Comparison of low-cost, computer-based and conventional audiometry. Child: care, health and development, 36, 323-331. 2010.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2010.01079.x/abstract
Abstract
Background:
There is a need to develop affordable but effective audiometric screening equipment, particularly for use in low-income countries. With advances in computer technology, low-cost computer-based audiometer software has been developed. However, the efficacy of computer-based audiometers in hearing screening and diagnostic assessment requires investigation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a low-cost, computer-based audiometric system in a school-based hearing screening programme.
Methods:Eighty children were screened using the computer-based audiometer and with a conventional pure tone screening audiometer. Overall refer rates, as well as frequency and age effects on the accuracy of the computer-based audiometer, were considered.
Results:There was a significant relationship between the low-cost, computer-based audiometer and a conventional pure tone audiometer when a 40 dBHL refer criterion was used in school hearing screening and when test results at 500 Hz were excluded from analysis. However, background noise effects and software limitations in the computer-based system had major adverse effects on screening performance.
Conclusions:
The study results and preliminary practical experience with the system suggest that, with further software and hardware improvements, a low-cost, computer-based system may well be feasible for routine school screening in developing countries.
Hearing screening for school children: utility of noise-cancelling headphones
Lo, A.H.C. and McPHERSON, B. Hearing screening for school children: utility of noise-cancelling headphones. BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders, 13:6. 2013.
Abstract
Background
Excessive ambient noise in school settings is a major concern for school hearing screening as it typically masks pure tone test stimuli (particularly 500 Hz and below). This results in false positive findings and subsequent unnecessary follow-up. With advances in technology, noise-cancelling headphones have been developed that reduce low frequency noise by superimposing an anti-phase signal onto the primary noise. This research study examined the utility of noise-cancelling headphone technology in a school hearing screening environment.
Methods
The present study compared the audiometric screening results obtained from two air-conduction transducers—Sennheiser PXC450 noise-cancelling circumaural headphones (NC headphones) and conventional TDH-39 supra-aural earphones. Pure-tone hearing screening results (500 Hz to 4000 Hz, at 30 dB HL and 25 dB HL) were obtained from 232 school children, aged 6 to 8 years, in four Hong Kong primary schools.
Results
Screening outcomes revealed significant differences in referral rates between TDH-39 earphones and NC headphones for both 30 dB HL and 25 dB HL criteria, regardless of the inclusion or exclusion of 500 Hz results. The kappa observed agreement (OA) showed that at both screening intensities, the transducers’ referral agreement value for the 500 Hz inclusion group was smaller than for the 500 Hz exclusion group. Individual frequency analysis showed that the two transducers screened similarly at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz at 25 dB HL, as well as at both 30 dB HL and 25 dB HL screening levels for 4000 Hz. Statistically significant differences were found for 500 Hz at 30 dB HL and at 25 dB HL, and for 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz at 30 dB HL. OA for individual frequencies showed weaker intra-frequency agreement between the two transducers at 500 Hz at both intensity criterion levels than at higher frequencies.
Conclusions
NC headphones screening results differed from those obtained from TDH-39 earphones, with lower referral rates at 500 Hz, particularly at the 25 dB HL criterion level. Therefore, NC headphones may be able to operate at lower screening intensities and subsequently increase pure-tone screening test sensitivity, without compromising specificity. NC headphones show some promise as possible replacements for conventional earphones in school hearing screening programs.
Chinese speech audiometry material: Past, present, future
Ma, X.,McPHERSON, B. and Ma, L. Chinese speech audiometry material: Past, present, future. Hearing, Balance and Communication, 11, 52-63. 2013