Evaluating the hearing screening effectiveness of active noise cancellation technology among young adults: A pilot study

Hsiu-Lien Cheng; Ji-Yan Han; Yuan-Chia Chu; Yen-Fu Cheng; Chia-Mei Lin; Ming-Chang Chiang; Shang-Liang Wu; Ying-Hui Lai; Wen-Huei Liao

doi:10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000832

Evaluating the hearing screening effectiveness of active noise cancellation technology among young adults: A pilot study

J Chin Med Assoc. 2023 Jan 1;86(1):105-112. doi: 10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000832. Epub 2022 Oct 27.

Authors

Hsiu-Lien Cheng^{1

2}, Ji-Yan Han¹, Yuan-Chia Chu^{3

4

5}, Yen-Fu Cheng^{2

6

7

8}, Chia-Mei Lin¹, Ming-Chang Chiang¹, Shang-Liang Wu⁶, Ying-Hui Lai^{1

9}, Wen-Huei Liao^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
² Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Department of Information Management, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Big Data Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
⁵ Department of Information Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
⁶ Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
⁷ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
⁸ Institute of Brain Science, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
⁹ Medical Device Innovation & Translation Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung, University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

PMID: 36300992
DOI: 10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000832

Abstract

Background: The population of young adults who are hearing impaired increases yearly, and a device that enables convenient hearing screening could help monitor their hearing. However, background noise is a critical issue that limits the capabilities of such a device. Therefore, this study evaluated the effectiveness of commercial active noise cancellation (ANC) headphones for hearing screening applications in the presence of background noise. In particular, six confounders were used for a comprehensive evaluation.

Methods: We enrolled 12 young adults (a total of 23 ears with normal hearing) to participate in this study. A cross-sectional self-controlled study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of hearing screening in the presence of background noise, with a total of 240 test conditions (=3 ANC models × 2 ANC function statuses × 2 noise types × 5 noise levels × 4 frequencies) for each test ear. Subsequently, a linear regression model was used to prove the effectiveness of ANC headphones for hearing screening applications in the presence of background noise with six confounders.

Results: The experimental results showed that, on average, the ANC function of headphones can improve the effectiveness of hearing screening tasks in the presence of background noise. Specifically, the statistical analysis showed that the ANC function enabled a significant 10% improvement ( p < 0.001) compared with no ANC function.

Conclusion: This study confirmed the effectiveness of ANC headphones for young adult hearing screening applications in the presence of background noise. Furthermore, the statistical results confirmed that as confounding variables, noise type, noise level, hearing screening frequency, ANC headphone model, and sex all affect the effectiveness of the ANC function. These findings suggest that ANC is a potential means of helping users obtain high-accuracy hearing screening results in the presence of background noise. Moreover, we present possible directions of development for ANC headphones in future studies.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Hearing
Hearing Loss*
Humans
Noise* / prevention & control
Pilot Projects
Young Adult