Pure tone hearing test procedure

Self-running and self-administered pure tone audiometry

DuoTone®, the hearing assessment protocol included in Jacoti HearingKit®, tests pairs of pure-tone stimuli at different frequencies along with an additional silent condition. Pure-tones thresholds are determined from 125Hz up to 12000Hz. The procedure accurately reports hearing thresholds for both frequencies of the pure-tone stimuli pair.

DuoTone® procedure was developed with the intention of having a procedure that runs independently from direct control by a test leader.

3 types of stimuli

• A continuous tone with the lower frequency
• An intermittent tone, three short tones, with a higher frequency.
• No signal (“silent” stimulus).

The test comprises several consecutive trials with pairs of stimuli from this list. For example, a trial might consist of a 500Hz continuous tone (stimulus A) and a 3kHz intermittent tone (stimulus B). Another trial might consist of a 1 kHz continuous tone (stimulus A) and the silent stimulus (stimulus C).

The role of “silent” stimulus

The subject is informed that there are silent stimuli. When one of the two stimuli (A) or (B) is delivered at an intensity level below the individual’s threshold, he will not guess between (A) and (B) but select (C).

DuoTone® has been demonstrated to be a valid procedure to measure pure tone hearing thresholds. No statistically significant difference was found between the standard clinical procedure in a soundproof booth and a DuoTone® test performed in a quiet environment.

Home-based audiometry with a smartphone app. Reliable results?

Amaury Hazan, Joanna Luberadzka, Jonatan Rivilla, Ad Snik, Bert Albers, Num Méndez, Nicolas Wack, Oscar Paytuvi, Andrzej Zarowski, Erwin Offeciers, Jacques Kinsbergen

Executive Summary