App-based hearing screening on tablets helps GPs improve the diagnosis of hearing disorders, a French study suggests.
The study, which supports integration of the tests into family medical practices, found that nearly one-third of patients at GP practices who did the screening had hearing impairment.
Researchers from the University of Montpellier said hearing loss remained underdiagnosed.
They evaluated the acceptability and feasibility of hearing screening in the routine practice of private family medicine using two automatic self-hearing tests: SoTone, which measures pure-tone thresholds, and SoNoise, which assesses speech recognition in noise.
The study included 516 patients aged over ten who attended three private family-practice clinics in 2022. They wore calibrated Bluetooth headphones and completed the hearing tests.
Nearly half, (219 patients or 42%) were able to perform both tests, the researchers reported in the March/April 2025 edition of The Annals of Family Medicine.
The average duration for consent, instruction and completion of testing was six minutes eight seconds. This included one minute 43 seconds for the explanation.
“Interestingly, the SoTone (one minute 10 seconds), appears to be sufficient for detecting hearing loss,” the researchers wrote.
Of 219 people screened, 59 (27%) screened positive for some hearing loss and were referred to an ENT specialist. But only 16 patients ultimately followed up, 14 of whom had confirmed hearing loss, and eight received a prescription for hearing aids.
“This study supports integration of app-based hearing screenings into family medical care, as it is compatible with routine consultations,” they study authors wrote.
“The use of tablet-based applications may assist general practitioners by enhancing the diagnosis of hearing disorders.”
The study authors were Dr Jean-Charles Ceccato, Dr Arnaud Génin, Professor Jean-Luc Puel and Professor Frédéric Venail from the University of Montpellier and Montpellier Neuroscience Institute, and Ms Maria El Mouahidine from the University of Montpellier. Professor Venail is also from the Otology & Neurotology Unit, University Hospital of Montpellier.
