To enable reliable smartphone-based hearing assessments by developing methods to estimate device calibration offsets using categorical loudness scaling (CLS).
No actionable change yet; this is a methods-development study that may eventually improve the reliability of smartphone-based hearing screening, but findings require further validation before influencing clinical practice.
Accurate calibration is the single biggest barrier to clinical-grade mobile hearing assessment, and a validated offset-estimation method could meaningfully lower the cost and access gap for hearing screening at scale.
- 01Study developed a calibration offset estimation method for mobile hearing tests using categorical loudness scaling.
- 02Addresses a core reliability problem in smartphone-based audiometry: unknown device output levels.
- 03Published in International Journal of Audiology (IJA), a peer-reviewed audiology journal.
- 04Categorical loudness scaling asks listeners to rate how loud sounds are across a range, enabling offset inference without dedicated hardware.
- 05Successful validation could support broader deployment of remote and self-administered hearing tests.
Categorical loudness scaling can be used to estimate device calibration offsets in mobile hearing tests.
studypartially supportedThe method enables more reliable smartphone-based hearing assessments.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42084852
- DOI
- 10.1080/14992027.2026.2663342.
- Journal
- International Journal of Audiology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Not specified in the abstract; likely adult participants completing loudness scaling tasks on mobile devices
- Intervention
- Categorical loudness scaling as a method for estimating device calibration offsets in smartphone-based hearing tests
Primary outcomes
Accuracy of calibration offset estimation via categorical loudness scaling; Reliability of smartphone-based hearing assessment after offset correction
