Test-Retest Reliability and Preliminary Validation of Smartphone-Based Threshold and Categorical loudness Measures in Home Settings

Reliable hearing assessment at home can improve accessibility and reduce dependence on in-clinic testing. To be viable, home-based procedures must provide accurate results within short measurement times and remain robust to factors such as ambient noise and variable user attention....

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Smartphone-based at-home hearing threshold and loudness measures show preliminary test-retest reliability, supporting their potential as remote screening or monitoring tools; audiologists should watch this space but should not yet replace standard audiometric testing with these methods.

Validated remote audiometric tools could dramatically expand access to hearing assessment, support teleaudiology, and enable ongoing patient monitoring outside the clinic.

1. 01Study tested repeatability (test-retest reliability) of smartphone-based hearing threshold and loudness measures at home.
2. 02Categorical loudness scaling — rating how soft or loud sounds feel at different volumes — was also assessed remotely.
3. 03Published in Trends in Hearing (2026), a peer-reviewed open-access audiology journal.
4. 04At-home testing eliminates the need for a soundproof booth but introduces background noise variability.
5. 05Preliminary validation suggests the method is promising but not yet a clinical standard.

PMID

42623291

DOI

10.1177/23312165261471286.

Journal

Trends in Hearing

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Individuals completing smartphone-based hearing tests in home settings

Intervention

Smartphone-based hearing threshold and categorical loudness measurement in home settings

Comparator

Repeated test sessions (test-retest design)