A new approach to the initial assessment of hearing

Purpose: To substantiate the possibility of using frequency hearing research in the web application "Automated system of primary hearing assessment". Material and Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of Clinics of Samara State Medical University in October 2019. It involved 91 patients aged 17 to 73 years (mean age 48±14.6 years). All participants in the study were divided into two age groups: group I - 17-59 years old, group II - over 60 years old. Patients were asked to pass a hearing assessment in two ways: on the Interacoustics AC-40 clinical audiometer and the web application "Automated system for primary hearing assessment" developed by us (patent no. 2019664671). Results: The maximum difference in average hearing thresholds between tonal threshold audiometry and the web application in group I was 3.3 dB at 2 kHz on the right and 3.2 dB at 2 and 4 kHz on the left, in group II-4.7 and 3.5 dB at 1 and 2 kHz on the right, and 7.2 dB at 4 kHz on the left. The presented data were evaluated using the Cohen Kappa coefficient and confirm a high level of correspondence between the results obtained using the clinical audiometer and the developed web application. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, a conclusion is made about the possibility of using a web application for primary rapid diagnostics of hearing in General medical practice in conditions of difficult accessibility of audiological care.