Wireless earbuds for low-cost hearing screening

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost wireless earbud device capable of performing hearing screening by detecting otoacoustic emissions, potentially making hearing tests more accessible worldwide.

Contribution

The authors develop and validate a novel wireless earbud hardware and algorithms that can reliably perform hearing screening, reducing costs and increasing accessibility.

Findings

Detects hearing loss with 100% sensitivity

Achieves 89.7% specificity, comparable to expensive medical devices

Demonstrates effectiveness in clinical study with 50 ears

Abstract

We present the first wireless earbud hardware that can perform hearing screening by detecting otoacoustic emissions. The conventional wisdom has been that detecting otoacoustic emissions, which are the faint sounds generated by the cochlea, requires sensitive and expensive acoustic hardware. Thus, medical devices for hearing screening cost thousands of dollars and are inaccessible in low and middle income countries. We show that by designing wireless earbuds using low-cost acoustic hardware and combining them with wireless sensing algorithms, we can reliably identify otoacoustic emissions and perform hearing screening. Our algorithms combine frequency modulated chirps with wideband pulses emitted from a low-cost speaker to reliably separate otoacoustic emissions from in-ear reflections and echoes. We conducted a clinical study with 50 ears across two healthcare sites. Our study shows that the low-cost earbuds detect hearing loss with 100% sensitivity and 89.7% specificity, which is comparable to the performance of a $8000 medical device. By developing low-cost and open-source wearable technology, our work may help address global health inequities in hearing screening by democratizing these medical devices.