Home › Research › Cognitive tests and assessment
Mobile applications to detect hearing impairment: opportunities and challenges
De Wet Swanepoel, Karina C. De Sousa, Cas Smits, David R. Moore. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2019-09-03
Topic: Health services, long-term care and technology
Hearing loss affects close to 1.3 billion people and is a growing global health concern as the fourth leading contributor to years lived with disability. 1 The global economic cost associated with hearing loss is estimated at 750 billion United States dollars (US$) annually.2 However, hearing loss has limited public health support, especially in low-and middle-income countries, where incidence is high and resources often scarce and unequally distributed.Consequences of unaddressed hearing loss include impaired communication and reduced psychosocial well-being.Hearing loss also has close links to dementia as one of the primary modifiable risk factors.3 The 2017 World Health Assembly Resolution Prevention of deafness and hearing loss calls on hearing health-care stakeholders to develop and implement strategies for improved service provision, especially in low-and middle-income countries.2 While half of all hearing losses can be prevented, most of the remainder will benefit from significantly reduced functional impairment made possible through early detection and treatment.2 Capitalizing on advances in mobile phone penetration, mobile health (mHealth) solutions, that is, use of mobile and wireless technologies for health, provide an opportunity for hearing health service-delivery models that can improve access to and uptake of care.3,4 Greater access to mobile technology is associated with improvements in quality of life, as evidenced by the relationship between mobile connectivity levels and progress towards meeting sustainable development goals.5 For lowand middle-income countries, accessible mHealth solutions are particularly appealing for hearing loss prevention, because a very high proportion of people with hearing loss in these countries remains untreated due to poor access to hearing services.3 Smartphone applications (apps) are starting to provide alternative accessible hearing tests in two broad categories: clinical (medically regulated) and consumer apps.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 41/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 24 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 41 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Bulletin of the World Health Organization) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2019 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 31656337) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 24 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 24 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 41 out of 100. |
| Total | 41 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Swanepoel, D. W., De Sousa, K. C., Smits, C., & Moore, D. R. (2019). Mobile applications to detect hearing impairment: opportunities and challenges. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. https://doi.org/10.2471/blt.18.227728
Vancouver
Swanepoel DW, De Sousa KC, Smits C, Moore DR. Mobile applications to detect hearing impairment: opportunities and challenges. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2019. doi:10.2471/blt.18.227728. PMID: 31656337.
BibTeX
@article{swanepoel2019-31656337,
author = {Swanepoel, De Wet and De Sousa, Karina C. and Smits, Cas and Moore, David R.},
title = {{Mobile applications to detect hearing impairment: opportunities and challenges}},
journal = {Bulletin of the World Health Organization},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.2471/blt.18.227728},
pmid = {31656337},
url = {https://doi.org/10.2471/blt.18.227728}
}
Related studies in Cognitive tests and assessment
Also tagged “hearing”
118 studies in the library carry the topic tag “hearing”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 118 tagged studies.