| Popis: |
The advent of smart phone applications (apps) within the medical arena is becoming increasingly common; and offers huge potential for the improvement of clinical practice and development of how we deliver healthcare to patients. Medical apps are developing new methods of screening for common conditions such as hearing impairment, and offer alternative ways to overcome the substantial barriers faced by patients in seeking testing for hearing loss. Android devices constitute 80% of all mobile devices around the world. “HearingTest”, released in 2013, is available in the UK as a free download via the Google Play store on Android devices. Validation studies have shown the audiological results from “Hearing Test” app have a mean difference of 2.6dB (95% CI 2.0-3.1) from those obtained using formal pure tone audiometry; with 89% of app results within 10dB of pure tone audiometry results (95% CI 88-91).14 The app offers clear potential for clinical application within the UK health care setting to deliver high quality community based hearing care. This study will assess the feasibility and reliability of the “HearingTest” app for use in the General Practice clinic setting where formal secondary care audiology services are not available. In addition to clinical examination and tuning fork tests, we will explore the ability of the app to provide valuable clinical information in the assessment of patients presenting in the community with suspected hearing loss. |
