Diagnostic Accuracy of Mobile Health-Based Audiometry for the Screening of Hearing Loss in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Telemedicine Journal and e-Health
Wang, K., Wei, W., et al. (2023).
Telemedicine Journal and e-Health, 29(10), 1433-1445.
This systematic review and meta-analysis investigates the diagnostic accuracy of mobile mHealth audiometric tests for screening hearing loss in adults.
Foundation of the School of Nursing Peking Union Medical College (China); Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Incubating Program (China)
From database inception to April 30, 2022
Studies reporting diagnostic accuracy and psychometric data. Excludes studies without full texts, reviews, and conference abstracts.
20 total studies included. 19 studies included for meta-analysis.
<div>Nineteen studies investigating the accuracy of mHealth-based pure tone audiometry screening found high sensitivity (0.91) and specificity (0.90) for identifying mild hearing loss. High sensitivity (0.94) and specificity (0.87) were also reported for identifying moderate hearing loss in adults. One study investigating the accuracy of mHealth-based speech recognition testing (SRT) reported a sensitivity of 0.88 and a specificity of 0.88.</div>
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<div>The authors identified additional benefits including improved accessibility, convenience, and increased cost-effectiveness.</div>
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<div>Limitations of the review include heterogeneity of thresholds and hearing loss definitions, presence of publication bias particularly in studies targeting mild hearing loss, and a lack of information on key factors (e.g., monitoring of environmental noise, device calibration, masking) across the included studies. Additional research regarding automated functions (e.g., device calibration, environmental monitoring, personalized frequency selection) and diagnostic accuracy of mHealth-based SRT tools is needed.</div>
