Smartphone-bundled earphones as personal sound amplification products in adults with sensorineural hearing loss

Heng-Yu Haley Lin; Hoi-Shan Lai; Chii-Yuan Huang; Chih-Hao Chen; Shang-Liang Wu; Yuan-Chia Chu; Yu-Fu Chen; Ying-Hui Lai; Yen-Fu Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105436

Smartphone-bundled earphones as personal sound amplification products in adults with sensorineural hearing loss

iScience. 2022 Nov 15;25(12):105436. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105436. eCollection 2022 Dec 22.

Authors

Heng-Yu Haley Lin¹, Hoi-Shan Lai^{2

3}, Chii-Yuan Huang^{1

4}, Chih-Hao Chen¹, Shang-Liang Wu³, Yuan-Chia Chu^{5

6

7}, Yu-Fu Chen², Ying-Hui Lai^{8

9}, Yen-Fu Cheng^{1

2

3

4

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
² Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, 365, Ming-Te Road Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
³ Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
⁴ School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, 155, Sec. 2, Linong Street, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
⁵ Information Management Office, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
⁶ Medical AI Development Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Information Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
⁹ Medical Device Innovation & Translation Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
¹⁰ Institute of Brain Science, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, 155, Sec. 2, Linong Street, Taipei 112, Taiwan.

Abstract

Given the low prevalence of hearing aid use among individuals with hearing loss due to their high costs and social stigma, personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) may serve as alternatives with adequate hearing compensation and greater accessibility. This study examined the electroacoustic features of hearing aids and selected smartphone-bundled earphones, specifically AirPods, as PSAPs, and compared hearing performances among adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss when aided with each hearing assistive device. Our results indicated that AirPods Pro met four out of five PSAP standards. No significant differences were found regarding speech perception between AirPods Pro and hearing aids in quiet but not with the presence of background noises. AirPods Pro may have the potential to be a hearing assistive device for adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. More research is needed to investigate the safety and feasibility of using earphones bundled with other smartphones as PSAPs.

Keywords: Audiology; Health sciences; Medical biotechnology; Medical device; Medicine.