Ms Carolyn Mee1, Azza Al-Maskarib2, Kevin J. Munro2, Vinayak Hulihalli2, Harvey Dillon2,3, Reza Hoseinabadi2
1Sound Scouts, Crows Nest, Australia, 2Manchester University, Machester, United Kingdom, 3Macquarie University, , Australia
Biography:
In 2011 Carolyn Mee set her sights on improving children’s hearing screening. Collaborating with the National Acoustic Laboratories Sound Scouts was created.
In 2015 Sound Scouts was awarded a NSW Medical Devices Fund Grant ensuring its continued development and commercialisation. Sound Scouts has since enabled over 190,000 hearing checks in metropolitan, rural and importantly remote areas where audiology services are not always readily available.
Mee has received numerous awards for her innovative achievements including winning the 2020 Women in Digital, Innovator of the Year Award and the 2019 Digital Health Award at the Impact Pediatric Health Competition in Austin, Texas. Awards are great but improving lives is the real prize!
Abstract
Background: Over the past 4 years, Sound Scouts has delivered over 160,000 children’s hearing checks in Australia. Hearing screening was language-based, which enables widespread application without needing conventional audiometric equipment. However, the language basis poses challenges for children with limited English proficiency or low language skills. Recognising the importance of inclusion and diversity, Sound Scouts sought to develop a tone-based Automatic Audiometer to provide equitable access to hearing screening.
Method: The development of the Automatic Audiometer focused on creating a reliable assessment tool that leveraged the benefits of gaming technology. The study used a cross-sectional, within-subject design, to compare hearing thresholds obtained from the automatic audiometer to hearing thresholds obtained from conventional audiometry as the reference method in eight frequencies (250-8,000Hz) in both ears for each participant.
Results: The study sample included in the analysis consisted of 30 adults (63% male, 37% female). Data was obtained for 120 ears (averaged across left and right ears, and test-retest thresholds in eight frequencies), resulting in 960 thresholds. Of the 30 participants, 20 had normal hearing, 10 were found to have a clinically relevant hearing loss. The study showed close agreement between conventional audiometry and Sound Scouts audiometry up to 4000 Hz and provided new Reference Equivalent Threshold Sound Pressure Level values for the headphones used, enabling the audiometer to give accurate results up to 8000 Hz.
Discussion: Inclusion of the Automatic Audiometer addresses a gap in hearing health by offering an inclusive tool for children who may have missed out on screening opportunities when only a language-based test was available.