Development and validation of a teleaudiometry method for tablet: automated hearing screening in scholars

• Grant number: 13/22013-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Speech Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Alessandra Giannella Samelli
• Grantee: Alessandra Giannella Samelli
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Epidemiological data about prevalence of hearing loss in developing countries are insufficient for planning more effective actions to minimize the socio-economic impacts resulting from this change, but it is estimated that hearing loss is present in almost twice of people, when compared developing countries and developed countries. Hearing health actions in primary care should include promotion, prevention and early identification of hearing problems in the community, as well as referrals, when necessary, to the services of medium and high complexity. However, these actions are not enough to meet or even identify the demand, also because there is a limited number of health professionals who care of the hearing. Within this context , it is necessary the creation and adoption of procedures accessible to underserved areas of the country that do not have physical or human resources to enable the identification, as early as possible, of groups at risk for hearing loss. Teleaudiometry simulates automatic tools and standards of an audiometry as screening, performed by software installed on a computer, offering to patients in rural and remote areas the access to diagnostic services with lower costs for patient, for the city and for the professional to perform the screening, which does not require special and complex equipment. However, for those instruments within the teleaudiometry can be used, it is necessary the clinical validation of new methods of automatic audiometry. Thus, the objectives of this study are to develop a software for performing automated hearing screening for tablet with remote connection interface to the central database via Internet; to compare the results obtained by automated hearing screening with the results obtained by conventional audiometry (gold standard) in the pediatric population; establish the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value, and accuracy of that instrument, seeking clinical validation. The software installed on tablet will be developed to performance an automatic hearing screening with remote connection interface to the central database via Internet. The software to perform hearing screening will have an algorithm that will evaluate the frequencies of 0.5, 1 , 2 and 4 kHz at 20dB in each ear separately (with TDH 39) . The individual's response to sound is achieved by touching the screen on a specific location previously determined (up to 3 seconds after the presence of the tone). The sounds are emitted at random intervals between three and eight seconds, to prevent conditioning time of onset of the stimulus. The entire apparatus is calibrated in accordance with current standards. After the development of this instrument, it will be tested in 250 children. To validate the instrument, will perform the following procedures: otoscopy, automatic hearing screening via tablet, pure tone audiometry in a soundproof booth and immitanciometry. At the end of data collection, the results of the automatic hearing screening and pure tone audiometry (gold standard) are compared to obtain the values of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value, and accuracy, seeking clinical validation of the instrument developed in this research. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SAMELLI, ALESSANDRA G.; RABELO, CAMILA M.; SANCHES, SEISSE G. G.; AQUINO, CAMILA P.; GONZAGA, DENISE. Tablet-Based Hearing Screening. TELEMEDICINE AND E-HEALTH, v. 23, n. 9, p. 747-752, SEP 2017. (13/22013-7)