Written by Hannah Harp
Spoon Feed
The otoacoustic emissions (OAE) mobile app tested in this study performed comparably to a commercial OAE device when screening for infant hearing loss.
Can you hear me now?
Detecting hearing loss in infants is urgent, since it affects their ability to process and produce language. While ABR testing in newborns provides more information and has slightly higher sensitivity and specificity compared to OAE, OAE is both easier and cheaper to perform. In low-resource countries without universal newborn hearing screen programs, OAE screening with a smartphone app would be low cost and scalable. This study evaluated the accuracy of a smartphone-based OAE test for infant hearing screening compared to a conventional OAE device. A prospective cohort of 76 infants less than 6 months (mean age = 3.1 months) was tested. Both devices demonstrated 100% sensitivity (95%CI 0.69–1.00) and negative predictive value (95%CI 0.94–1.00). Specificity was 88% for the smartphone and 85% for conventional devices, suggesting that smartphone-based OAE testing is a viable low-cost alternative for early hearing detection. This was a small proof-of-concept study and was performed in a specialty ENT/audiology clinic, so the prevalence of hearing loss was high. This was a very clever way to increase the power of a small study, but these data may not be consistent with what we will see in their large follow-up study of the general population.
How will this change my practice?
I see this app being very usable by community health workers in lower-resourced areas. We use OAEs in our clinic, and while they are impacted by cerumen impaction and middle ear effusion, they are generally reliable. If the option is mobile OAE vs. no screening at all, then this is a no-brainer.
Source
An Open-Source Smartphone Otoacoustic Emissions Test for Infants. Pediatrics. 2025 Feb 6:e2024068068. doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-068068. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39909065
