Ashley Richards, B.S., Beau Campa, B.S., Jiong Hu, Ph.D., Au.D. Consumer to Patient: -- Measurement of A Novel Hearing Specific Listening Device and Early Identification of Hearing Loss Ashley Richards, B.S., Beau Campa, B.S., Jiong Hu, Ph.D., Au.D.

Conflict of Interest The authors and presenters have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this presentation.

Current advanced consumer electronics Background Current advanced consumer electronics Headphones and/or earphones are everywhere Airpods, Beats, Bose, etc. Great sound quality and user comfort https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/bose/soundlink-on-ear

Background Manufactures trying new technologies to “customize” sounds to the individual consumers Obtain “thresholds” from consumers Improves sound quality, music appreciation, etc. NuraPhone Objective measurement: OAE Even Headphones Subjective measurement: short music pieces

“Personalized” consumer headphones Challenges Background “Personalized” consumer headphones Challenges Effectively and efficiently collect “thresholds” in not-so-quiet environment At home, on bus, etc., Intuitive to use? How long would it take? Accuracy of those “thresholds” Compare to “real” thresholds? Any ear advantage? At different frequencies?

Utilizes a short music piece Background Even Headphones Utilizes a short music piece Narrow spectrum Soft to loud Patient presses button when audible Obtain an “Ear Print” Effectively an “audiogram”

Hearing health awareness Background Meanwhile At least 20 percent of U.S. adults, at some point in their lives, have a significant communication problem. Can compromise physical and emotional health Affects the social, educational, vocational, and recreational aspects of life Hearing health awareness Bringing patients to the clinic is the first step

Are the “thresholds” measured by Even Headphones accurate? Background Research question Are the “thresholds” measured by Even Headphones accurate? Compared to Audiograms measured in an Audiology clinic If not, how far off? Any correlation? Are the differences consistent? If so, is it feasible to use as a screening tool? Maybe alert the consumer when there is a hearing loss? Consumers become patients?

Study approved by the IRB at University of the Pacific Method Study approved by the IRB at University of the Pacific Ninety-seven subjects Recruited from University of the Pacific Hearing and Balance Center San Francisco campus Varied in Age Gender Degree of hearing loss Type of hearing loss Length of hearing loss Amplification use

Method Noah Thresholds Patient’s audiograms stored in Noah Audiogram obtained in a sound treated booth Calibrated by ANSI standards Type 1 clinical audiometer Insert earphones Down-10-up-5 Air conduction thresholds Octave frequencies from 250 to 8k Hz Both ears

Patients complete the measurement during their appointments Method Even Thresholds Obtain consent Patients complete the measurement during their appointments In sound booth Instruction on how to use the Even headphone Easy to follow built-in instruction Measures frequencies between 125 and 14k Hz Both ears

Results Audiogram thresholds vs. Even thresholds

Thresholds differences Results Thresholds differences Even - Noah Even headphones cannot test at levels above 70 dB HL Relatively smaller distributions At lower frequencies In the left ear than the right ear

Audiogram thresholds vs. Corrected Even thresholds Results Audiogram thresholds vs. Corrected Even thresholds No statistically significant differences between corrected Even thresholds and Noah thresholds At all frequencies tested

Discussion Provided evidence that consumer grade headphones could provide relatively accurate information regarding the listener's hearing status. Even Headphones had consistent and stable threshold measurement Correlated well with those obtained from audiometers. As long as they are within the range of its optimal performance Could potentially help improve the performance of auditory perception in individuals with hearing loss Can act as a screening tool and prompting tool A voice saying: Go see an Audiologist!

The presenters would like to thank: Thank you The presenters would like to thank: Dr. Gabriella Musacchia, Co-director, AEP lab at UOP Mr. Philip Inouye, Research assistant at AEP lab Ms. Aimee Paredez, Research assistant at AEP lab Mr. Danny Aronson, CEO, MeQ Inc dba Even Mr. Ofer Raz, CTO, MeQ Inc dba Even Dr. Rosalie Saxman, CAA CEU Chairperson Audience at CAA 2018

References Donahue A, Dubno JR, Beck L: Accessible and affordable hearing health care for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss. Ear Hear 2010;31(1):2-6. Ramachandran V, Stach B, Becker E. Reducing hearing aid cost does not influence device acquisition for milder hearing loss, but eliminating it does. Hear Journ. 2011;64(5): 10-18