Development and verification of non-supervised smartphone-based methods for assessing pure-tone thresholds and loudness perception
Development and verification of non-supervised smartphone-based methods for assessing pure-tone thresholds and loudness perception
Objective
The benefit of using smartphones for hearing tests in a non-supervised, rapid, and contactless way has drawn a lot of interest, especially if supra-threshold measures are assessed that go beyond audiogram-based measures alone. It is unclear, nevertheless, how well these measures compare to more supervised and regulated manual audiometric assessments. The aim of this study is to validate such smartphone-based methods against standardised laboratory assessments.
Design
Pure-tone audiometry and categorical loudness scaling (CLS) were used. Three conditions with varying degrees of supervision were created and compared. In order to assess binaural and spectral loudness summation, both narrowband monaural and broadband binaural noise have been examined as CLS test stimuli.
Study sample
N = 21 individuals with normal hearing and N = 16 participants with mild-to-moderate hearing loss.
Results
The tests conducted here did not show any distinctions between smartphone-based and laboratory-based methods.
Conclusions
Non-supervised listening tests via smartphone may serve as a valid, reliable, and cost-effective approach, e.g. for pure-tone audiometry, CLS, and the evaluation of binaural and spectral loudness summation. In addition, the supra-threshold tests can be constructed to be invariant against missing calibration and external noise which makes them more robust for smartphone usage than audiogram measures.
Xu, Chen
73268368-81b7-46b9-b752-5d0392977212
Xu, Chen
73268368-81b7-46b9-b752-5d0392977212
Xu, Chen
(2024)
Development and verification of non-supervised smartphone-based methods for assessing pure-tone thresholds and loudness perception.
International Journal of Audiology.
(doi:10.1080/14992027.2024.2424876).
Abstract
Objective
The benefit of using smartphones for hearing tests in a non-supervised, rapid, and contactless way has drawn a lot of interest, especially if supra-threshold measures are assessed that go beyond audiogram-based measures alone. It is unclear, nevertheless, how well these measures compare to more supervised and regulated manual audiometric assessments. The aim of this study is to validate such smartphone-based methods against standardised laboratory assessments.
Design
Pure-tone audiometry and categorical loudness scaling (CLS) were used. Three conditions with varying degrees of supervision were created and compared. In order to assess binaural and spectral loudness summation, both narrowband monaural and broadband binaural noise have been examined as CLS test stimuli.
Study sample
N = 21 individuals with normal hearing and N = 16 participants with mild-to-moderate hearing loss.
Results
The tests conducted here did not show any distinctions between smartphone-based and laboratory-based methods.
Conclusions
Non-supervised listening tests via smartphone may serve as a valid, reliable, and cost-effective approach, e.g. for pure-tone audiometry, CLS, and the evaluation of binaural and spectral loudness summation. In addition, the supra-threshold tests can be constructed to be invariant against missing calibration and external noise which makes them more robust for smartphone usage than audiogram measures.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 24 October 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 December 2024
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 509624
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509624
ISSN: 1499-2027
PURE UUID: d6cd4b96-adaf-409e-a833-cdc6c96ce18b
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Date deposited: 26 Feb 2026 18:04
Last modified: 27 Feb 2026 03:14
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Contributors
Author:
Chen Xu
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