Detection of hearing problems in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: a comparison between clinician-administered and self-administrated hearing tests

Objective: This study evaluated the agreement of self-administered tests with clinician-administered tests in detecting hearing loss and speech-in-noise deficits in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children.Design: Children completed clinician-administered audiometry, self-administered automatic audiometry (AutoAud), clinician-administered Listening in Spatialised Noise – Sentences test and self-administered tablet-based hearing game Sound Scouts. Comparisons were made between tests to determine the agreement of the self-administered tests with clinician-administered tests in detecting hearing loss and speech-in-noise deficits.Study sample: Two hundred and ninety seven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 4–14 years from three schools.Results: Acceptable threshold differences of ≤5 dB between AutoAud and manual audiometry hearing thresholds were found for 88% of thresholds, with a greater agreement for older than for younger children. Consistent pass/fail results on the Sound Scouts speech-in-quiet measure and manual audiometry were found for 81% of children. Consistent pass/fail results on the Sound Scouts speech-in-noise measure and LiSN-S high-cue condition were found for 73% of children.Conclusions: This study shows good potential in using self-administered applications as initial tests for hearing problems in children. These tools may be especially valuable for children in remote locations and those from low socio-economic backgrounds who may not have easy access to healthcare.