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How good or bad is your hearing? Test yourself #IndiaNEWS #News
All India Institute of Speech and Hearing develops user-friendly Android App

DOWNLOAD AHS APP: play. google. com/store/apps/details?id=com. aiish. app

By Mohan Kayaka

Mysore/Mysuru: City-based All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) that has achieved many milestones and excellences in the field of communication disorders and an institute that has conducted exemplary research in the field of communication has achieved another distinction by developing an Android-based mobile App for hearing screening.

This is an end-to App where people can screen themselves to test their hearing abilities and also to get it rectified by visiting the nearest speech centre to his/her location and these details too are provided in the App.

Hearing is essential for effective communication and any impairment can cause disruption in communication as well as can have an impact on academic achievements, workplace, emotional and psychological areas.

Hearing loss can progress over time based on the nature of hearing loss. Certain causes that are associated with progressive hearing loss include aging, continued noise exposure without hearing protection, neglected ear infections, etc.

Hence, early detection of hearing loss is vital for effective intervention. Everyone should check their hearing to make sure that hearing loss is detected early. The Android-based mobile App helps people in hearing screening.

The onset of hearing loss is sudden and can occur in one of both the ears. Immediate steps have to be taken to manage as certain types of sudden hearing loss are reversible if immediate treatment is not followed.

Whoever wishes to know if their hearing is normal or not, can use the AIISH Hearing Screening (AHS) App which is freely downloadable from the Google Playstore. It takes less than 5 minutes to administer and can be used by those who are eight years old and above.

The App can be self-administered by users of Hindi, Kannada and English languages where earphones can be connected to the mobile phone for the administration of this App in order to screen each ear separately. The App has been developed by a team comprising Dr. P. Manjula, Dr. B. Jithin Raj, B. Nagaraju and S. Prashanth.

How the App works

The AHS App presents a set of words (one after the other) in the presence of background noise to each ear. The user will have to identify the word by pointing / touching the correct picture (from four options) on the mobile screen. After completing the screening test, the result will be displayed as either ‘PASS’ or ‘REFER’ to nearby audiological centres.