Performing tympanometry using smartphones.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tympanometry is used as part of a battery of tests for screening of middle ear function and may help diagnose middle ear disorders, but remains available only on expensive test equipment.

Methods

We report a low-cost smartphone-based tympanometer system that consists of a lightweight and portable attachment to vary air pressure in the ear and measure middle ear function. The smartphone displays a tympanogram and reports peak acoustic admittance in realtime. Our programmable and open-source system operates at 226 Hz and was tested on 50 pediatric patient ears in an audiology clinic in parallel with a commercial tympanometer.

Results

Our study shows an average agreement of 86 ± 2% between the 100 tympanograms produced by the smartphone and commercial device w

SUBMITTER: Chan J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9203539 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature