scholarly journals Worldwide Prevalence of Hearing Loss Among Smartphone Users: Cross-Sectional Study Using a Mobile-Based App

10.2196/17238 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. e17238
Author(s):  
Marcin Masalski ◽  
Krzysztof Morawski

Background In addition to the aging process, risk factors for hearing loss in adults include, among others, exposure to noise, use of ototoxic drugs, genetics, and limited access to medical care. Differences in exposure to these factors are bound to be reflected in the prevalence of hearing loss. Assessment of hearing loss can easily be carried out on a large scale and at low cost using mobile apps. Objective This study aimed to conduct a worldwide assessment of the differences in hearing loss prevalence between countries in a group of mobile device users. Methods Hearing tests were conducted using the open-access Android-based mobile app Hearing Test. The app is available free of charge in the Google Play store, provided that consent to the use of the results for scientific purposes is given. This study included hearing tests carried out on device models supported by the app with bundled headphones in the set. Calibration factors for supported models were determined using the biological method. The tests consisted of self-determining the quietest audible tone in the frequency range from 250 Hz to 8 kHz by adjusting its intensity using the buttons. The ambient noise level was optionally monitored using a built-in microphone. Following the test, the user could compare his hearing threshold against age norms by providing his or her age. The user's location was identified based on the phone’s IP address. Results From November 23, 2016 to November 22, 2019, 733,716 hearing tests were conducted on 236,716 mobile devices across 212 countries. After rejecting the tests that were incomplete, performed with disconnected headphones, not meeting the time criterion, repeated by the same user, or carried out regularly on one device, 116,733 of 733,716 tests (15.9%) were qualified for further analysis. The prevalence of hearing loss, defined as the average threshold at frequencies 0.5 kHz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, and 4 kHz above 25 dB HL in the better ear, was calculated at 15.6% (95% CI 15.4-15.8). Statistically significant differences were found between countries (P<.001), with the highest prevalences for Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India (>28%) and the lowest prevalences for Taiwan, Finland, and South Korea (<11%). Conclusions Hearing thresholds measured by means of mobile devices were congruent with the literature data on worldwide hearing loss prevalence. Uniform recruitment criteria simplify the comparison of the hearing loss prevalence across countries. Hearing testing on mobile devices may be a valid tool in epidemiological studies carried out on a large scale.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Masalski ◽  
Krzysztof Morawski

BACKGROUND In addition to the aging process, risk factors for hearing loss in adults include, among others, exposure to noise, use of ototoxic drugs, genetics, and limited access to medical care. Differences in exposure to these factors are bound to be reflected in the prevalence of hearing loss. Assessment of hearing loss can easily be carried out on a large scale and at low cost using mobile apps. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to conduct a worldwide assessment of the differences in hearing loss prevalence between countries in a group of mobile device users. METHODS Hearing tests were conducted using the open-access Android-based mobile app Hearing Test. The app is available free of charge in the Google Play store, provided that consent to the use of the results for scientific purposes is given. This study included hearing tests carried out on device models supported by the app with bundled headphones in the set. Calibration factors for supported models were determined using the biological method. The tests consisted of self-determining the quietest audible tone in the frequency range from 250 Hz to 8 kHz by adjusting its intensity using the buttons. The ambient noise level was optionally monitored using a built-in microphone. Following the test, the user could compare his hearing threshold against age norms by providing his or her age. The user's location was identified based on the phone’s IP address. RESULTS From November 23, 2016 to November 22, 2019, 733,716 hearing tests were conducted on 236,716 mobile devices across 212 countries. After rejecting the tests that were incomplete, performed with disconnected headphones, not meeting the time criterion, repeated by the same user, or carried out regularly on one device, 116,733 of 733,716 tests (15.9%) were qualified for further analysis. The prevalence of hearing loss, defined as the average threshold at frequencies 0.5 kHz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, and 4 kHz above 25 dB HL in the better ear, was calculated at 15.6% (95% CI 15.4-15.8). Statistically significant differences were found between countries (<i>P</i>&lt;.001), with the highest prevalences for Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India (&gt;28%) and the lowest prevalences for Taiwan, Finland, and South Korea (&lt;11%). CONCLUSIONS Hearing thresholds measured by means of mobile devices were congruent with the literature data on worldwide hearing loss prevalence. Uniform recruitment criteria simplify the comparison of the hearing loss prevalence across countries. Hearing testing on mobile devices may be a valid tool in epidemiological studies carried out on a large scale. CLINICALTRIAL Science Support Center of Wroclaw Medical University BW-572


Author(s):  
Ashish Bijlani ◽  
Umakishore Ramachandran ◽  
Roy Campbell

This work presents the first-ever detailed and large-scale measurement analysis of storage consumption behavior of applications (apps) on smart mobile devices. We start by carrying out a five-year longitudinal static analysis of millions of Android apps to study the increase in their sizes over time and identify various sources of app storage consumption. Our study reveals that mobile apps have evolved as large monolithic packages that are packed with features to monetize/engage users and optimized for performance at the cost of redundant storage consumption. We also carry out a mobile storage usage study with 140 Android participants. We built and deployed a lightweight context-aware storage tracing tool, called cosmos, on each participant's device. Leveraging the traces from our user study, we show that only a small fraction of apps/features are actively used and usage is correlated to user context. Our findings suggest a high degree of app feature bloat and unused functionality, which leads to inefficient use of storage. Furthermore, we found that apps are not constrained by storage quota limits, and developers freely abuse persistent storage by frequently caching data, creating debug logs, user analytics, and downloading advertisements as needed. Finally, drawing upon our findings, we discuss the need for efficient mobile storage management, and propose an elastic storage design to reclaim storage space when unused. We further identify research challenges and quantify expected storage savings from such a design. We believe our findings will be valuable to the storage research community as well as mobile app developers.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0260269
Author(s):  
Levicatus Mugenyi ◽  
Rebecca Namugabwe Nsubuga ◽  
Irene Wanyana ◽  
Winters Muttamba ◽  
Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye ◽  
...  

Background Feasibility of mobile Apps to monitor diseases has not been well documented particularly in developing countries. We developed and studied the feasibility of using a mobile App to collect daily data on COVID-19 symptoms and people’s movements. Methods We used an open source software “KoBo Toolbox” to develop the App and installed it on low cost smart mobile phones. We named this App “Wetaase” (“protect yourself”). The App was tested on 30 selected households from 3 densely populated areas of Kampala, Uganda, and followed them for 3 months. One trained member per household captured the data in the App for each enrolled member and uploaded it to a virtual server on a daily basis. The App is embedded with an algorithm that flags participants who report fever and any other COVID-19 related symptom. Results A total of 101 participants were enrolled; 61% female; median age 23 (interquartile range (IQR): 17–36) years. Usage of the App was 78% (95% confidence interval (CI): 77.0%–78.8%). It increased from 40% on day 1 to a peak of 81% on day 45 and then declined to 59% on day 90. Usage of the App did not significantly vary by site, sex or age. Only 57/6617 (0.86%) records included a report of at least one of the 17 listed COVID-19 related symptoms. The most reported symptom was flu/runny nose (21%) followed by sneezing (15%), with the rest ranging between 2% and 7%. Reports on movements away from home were 45% with 74% going to markets or shops. The participants liked the “Wetaase” App and recommended it for use as an alert system for COVID-19. Conclusion Usage of the “Wetaase” App was high (78%) and it was similar across the three study sites, sex and age groups. Reporting of symptoms related to COVID-19 was low. Movements were mainly to markets and shops. Users reported that the App was easy to use and recommended its scale up. We recommend that this App be assessed at a large scale for feasibility, usability and acceptability as an additional tool for increasing alerts on COVID-19 in Uganda and similar settings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Hongyu Guo ◽  
Amjad Nusayr ◽  
Wen-Chen Hu

Toggle buttons are intuitive gadgets widely used in software GUI design and mobile app interfaces with increasing popularity on mobile devices. However, the current practice of toggle button design is prone to semantic ambiguity, which causes confusions to the users. This paper presents an analysis of the various paradigms of toggle button design in the current practice and provides a resolution of the sematic ambiguities by proposing a set of design standards regarding toggle buttons. State semantics and action semantics are distinguished and it is advocated that state semantics should be used in lieu of action semantics.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e027152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dahui Wang ◽  
Huai Zhang ◽  
Haiyan Ma ◽  
Long Zhang ◽  
Lei Yang ◽  
...  

Hearing loss (≥26 dB threshold in the better ear), as a common chronic condition in humans, is increasingly gaining attention. Relevant research in China is relatively scarce, so we conduct a population-based study to investigate the prevalence of hearing loss among age groups, genders and ears in Zhejiang province, China, from September 2016 to June 2018.Study designPopulation-based cross-sectional studyParticipantsA total of 3754 participants aged 18–98 years and living in Zhejiang province, China.Outcome measuresPure-tone audiometric thresholds were measured at frequencies of 0.125–8 kHz for each subject. All participants were asked to complete a structured questionnaire, in the presence of a healthcare official.ResultsThe prevalence of speech-frequency and high-frequency hearing loss was 27.9% and 42.9%, respectively, in Zhejiang. There were significant differences in auditory thresholds at most frequencies among the age groups, genders (male vs female: 31.6%vs24.1% at speech frequency; 48.9% vs 36.8% at high frequency) and ears. In addition to the common factors affecting both types of hearing loss, a significant correlation was found between personal income and speech-frequency hearing loss (OR=0.69, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.92), and between hyperlipidaemia and high-frequency hearing loss (OR=1.45, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.07).ConclusionThe prevalence of hearing loss was high among people living in Zhejiang, particularly males, and in the left ear. Moreover, hearing thresholds increased with age. Several lifestyle and environment factors, which can be influenced by awareness and education, were significantly associated with hearing loss.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
MR Alam ◽  
MA Wahab ◽  
MM Rahman ◽  
AKM Asaduzzaman ◽  
MAS Al-Azad ◽  
...  

Introduction: Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is an occupational health hazard linked with noise exposure of more than 85 dB. Aircraft noise and other occupational noise exposure cause military aviators more susceptible to NIHL than commercial jet pilots. Aim: To find out the prevalence of noise induced hearing loss among different military aircrew population with special emphasis on identifying the associated risk factors. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on Kuwait Air force pilots those who came for annual medical checkup from July 2010 to July 2012. Audiometry of all subjects was done by ENT specialist and necessary data were collected by structured questionnaires. All data were analyzed by SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 17.0 Results: Out of 221 aircrew 32 (14.48%) developed NIHL. Hearing loss was mild to moderate and predominately at high frequencies. Most affected group was helicopter pilots. Pilots of more than 40 years of age and those who had more than 1000 flying hours had mean hearing threshold more than other groups. The right ear was affected in majority of cases than left ear. Conclusion: Noise exposure to aircrew is inevitable so hearing loss prevention strategies might play a pivotal role to save aircrew hearing. Active surveillance of hearing protection practices might have beneficiary effect. Steps can be taken for early detection of NIHL and hearing conservation program. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jafmc.v9i1.18721 Journal of Armed Forces Medical College Bangladesh Vol.9(1) 2013: 19-24


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry E Smallbone ◽  
Thomas FE Drake-Brockman ◽  
Britta S von Ungern-Sternberg

Follow-up for ongoing management and monitoring of patients is important in clinical practice and research. While common, telephone follow-up is resource intensive and, in our experience, yields low success rates. Electronic communication using mobile devices including smartphones and tablets can provide efficient alternatives — including SMS (text), online forms and mobile apps. To assess attitudes towards electronic follow-up, we surveyed 642 parents and carers at Perth Children’s Hospital, targeting demographics, device ownership and attitudes towards electronic follow-up. Mobile phone ownership was effectively universal. Almost all respondents were happy to communicate electronically with the hospital. Promisingly, 93.2% of respondents were happy to receive follow-up SMSs from the hospital and 80.3% were happy to reply to SMS questions. There was less enthusiasm regarding other modalities, with 59.9% happy to use a website and 69.0% happy to use a mobile app. The results support the introduction of electronic communication for follow-up in our paediatric population.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efthimios Alepis ◽  
Constantinos Patsakis

The extensive adoption of mobile devices in our everyday lives, apart from facilitating us through their various enhanced capabilities, has also raised serious privacy concerns. While mobile devices are equipped with numerous sensors which offer context-awareness to their installed apps, they can also be exploited to reveal sensitive information when correlated with other data or sources. Companies have introduced a plethora of privacy invasive methods to harvest users’ personal data for profiling and monetizing purposes. Nonetheless, up till now, these methods were constrained by the environment they operate, e.g., browser versus mobile app, and since only a handful of businesses have actual access to both of these environments, the conceivable risks could be calculated and the involved enterprises could be somehow monitored and regulated. This work introduces some novel user deanonymization approaches for device and user fingerprinting in Android. Having Android AOSP as our baseline, we prove that web pages, by using several inherent mechanisms, can cooperate with installed mobile apps to identify which sessions operate in specific devices and consequently further expose users’ privacy.


e-CliniC ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haidy Febrian Raintung ◽  
Steward K. Mengko ◽  
Julied Dehoop

Abstract: Hearing loss is the inability of a person’s sense of hearing in listening range of sound that can still be heard by people with normal hearing. With the growing popularity of entertainment venues (discos, karaoke, music concerts, internet cafes, etc.) as well as the use of portable music player, leisure noise have become the primary source that causing increased incidence of adolescent noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). Attitudes towards noise needs to be assessed at a young age, this is because the attittude is the basis of behavior, and behavior (towards leisure noise) can affect the amount of noise exposure of each person. Chronicity of NIHL symptoms often make adolescent tends to ignore the serious long-term problem that can arise and not take steps to resolve it. Objective: The purpose of this study is to obtain data from students of Manado 2nd Vocational Senior Secondary School concerning attitudes towards noise. Method: This research used descriptive observational with cross-sectional study. The subjects are students of Stone Concrete’s majors in Manado 2nd Vocational  Senior Secondary Schoolthat have passed initial hearing screening. Result: Of the 20 respondents who willingly take part in this research, obtained 5 respondents (25%) had negative attitude, 10 respondents (50%) had neutral attitude, and 5 respondents (25%) had positive attitude. From audiometric examination, obtained 4 respondents had a mild decreased in hearing threshold. Of the 4 respondents, 2 (50%) of them had a neutral attitude and 2 other respondents (50%) had positive attitude. Conclusion: Respondents with positive attitude towards noise are vulnurable to hearing threshold changes caused by daily noise exposure.Keywords: adolescent, hearing, noise, attitudes towards noise     Abstrak: Gangguan pendengaran merupakan ketidakmampuan indra pendengaran seseorang dalam mendengarkan rentang suara yang masih dapat didengar oleh orang dengan pendengaran normal. Semakin berkembangnya popularitas dari tempat-tempat hiburan (diskotik, karaoke, konser musik, warung internet, dan lain sebagainya) serta penggunaan pemutar musik portabel telah menjadi sumber peningkatan angka kejadian gangguan pendengaran akibat bising (GPAB) pada usia muda. Sikap terhadap kebisingan perlu dinilai pada usia muda, hal ini dikarenakan sikap merupakan dasar dalam berperilaku, dan perilaku (terhadap kebisingan sosial) dapat mempengaruhi derajat paparan bising masing-masing orang. Kronisitas dari gejala (GPAB) membuat kaum muda kurang menanggapi serius masalah-masalah jangka panjang yang dapat ditimbulkan, serta mengambil langkah untuk mengatasinya. Tujuan: Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk memperoleh data sikap terhadap kebisingan pada siswa sekolah menengah kejuruan (SMK) Negeri 2 Manado. Metode Penelitian:Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif observasional dengan menggunakan metode cross-sectional. Subjek penelitian adalah siswa jurusan Teknik Konstruksi Batu Beton (TKBB) SMK Negeri 2 Manado yang sudah melewati screening pendengaran awal. Hasil: Dari 20 responden yang bersedia menjadi responden penelitian, didapatkan 5 responden (25%) mempunyai sikap negatif, 10 responden (50%) mempunyai sikap netral, dan 5 responden (25%) mempunyai sikap positif. Dari pemeriksaan audiometrik, didapatkan 4 responden mengalami penurunan ambang dengar derajat ringan. Dari 4 responden tersebut, 2 (50%) diantaranya mempunyai sikap netral dan 2 responden (50%) mempunyai sikap positif. Simpulan: Responden yang bersikap positif terhadap bising (pro-bising) rentan terhadap terjadinya perubahan ambang dengar yang akibatkan oleh paparan kebisingan sehari-hari.Kata kunci: usia muda, pendengaran, bising, sikap terhadap kebisingan


e-CliniC ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Febrina R. Wuwung ◽  
Ora I. Palandeng ◽  
Olivia C. P. Pelealu

Abstract: Diabetes mellitus is a group of chronic metabolic disease which can affect nearly every organ system in the body. Complications of this disease are diverse and include retinopathy, nepropathy and neuropathy. It has a high prevalence and continued to increase. The relationship between diabetes mellitus and hearing loss have been studied. This study aimed to obtain the average of hearing threshold in patients with diabetes mellitus. This was a descriptive observational study with a cross sectional design. Total 38 diabetes mellitus patients were included in the study. Hearing threshold obtained based on air conduction pure tone audiometry average at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. The results showed that subjects were 65.8% females and 32.4% males. There were 9 subjects (23.6%) with normal hearing, 24 subjects (63.2%) with bilateral hearing loss, and 5 subjects (13.2%) with unilateral hearing loss. Of the 29 subjects with hearing loss, the levels were mild and moderate. None of the subjects had moderately severe, severe, or profound. Conclusion: The majority of subjects in this study had hearing loss.Keywords: diabetes mellitus, hearing threshold, pure tone audiometryAbstrak: Diabetes melitus merupakan suatu kelompok penyakit metabolik kronik yang dapat mempengaruhi hampir setiap sistem organ dalam tubuh. Komplikasi penyakit ini beragam, termasuk retinopati, nefropati dan neuropati. Prevalensinya cukup tinggi dan diperkirakan akan terus meningkat. Terdapat beberapa penelitian yang menghubungkan diabetes melitus dan gangguan pendengaran. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui ambang pendengaran rata – rata pada penderita diabetes melitus. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif observasional dengan desain penelitian potong lintang. Sampel total ialah 38 pasien diabetes melitus. Ambang pendengaran rata – rata diperoleh berdasarkan hantaran udara audiometri nada murni rata-rata pada frekuensi 500, 1000, 2000, dan 4000 Hz. Hasil penelitian memperlihatkan bahwa subjek penelitian 65,8% perempuan dan 34,2% laki – laki. Terdapat 9 orang (23,6%) yang mempunyai pendengaran normal, 24 orang (63,2 %) mengalami gangguan pendengaran bilateral dan 5 orang (13,2%) dengan gangguan pendengaran unilateral. Dari 29 subjek penelitian dengan gangguan pendengaran mengalami gangguan pendengaran kategori ringan dan sedang. Tidak ditemukan subjek penelitian dengan gangguan pendengaran kategori sedang berat, berat atau sangat berat. Simpulan: Mayoritas subjek penelitian mengalami gangguan pendengar.Kata kunci: ambang pendengaran, audiometri nada murni, diabetes melitus


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