Sound4All: Towards affordable large-scale hearing screening

Abstract

Hearing impairments are still prevalent, especially in rural areas of developing countries. Children in such areas have a high risk for hearing loss caused by malnutrition and inadequate medical facilities. In addition, many adults in urban areas are continuously exposed to high noise levels in their work environments (e.g., in factories or construction sites). However, the lack of regular screening often prevents timely interventions. This is mainly caused by the high prices of screening/testing equipment, which limit their availability especially in rural areas. Further, such equipment is currently designed to be used by specialists, which are often unavailable. In this paper, we outline techniques to develop low-cost screening devices, which are to be used by laypersons. They are intended to be utilized in the same way as clinical thermometers and blood pressure monitors are being used today. We propose possible solutions for realizing low-cost hearing screening equipment based on otoaccoustic emissions (OAE). We describe the principles as well as challenges of OAEs and propose solutions including multiple architectures. Our main goal is to design devices that are inexpensive, easy to use while still providing reliable hearing screening.