iPhone hearing app enables custom sound enhancement

’Other hearing-aid applications simply make sound louder at all frequencies,’ said Dr Hamid Djalilian, director of otology, neurotology and skull-base surgery at UC Irvine Medical Center. ’We wanted [ours] to work just like a hearing aid, where one can choose which pitches to amplify. People usually have high-pitch hearing loss and don’t need to amplify low-pitch sounds.’

Allowing the user to adjust pitch volumes, however, led to another challenge. ’Most people don’t know which pitches need amplification or by how much. So we added a hearing test that permits the user to identify and then fine tune just the pitches where there is hearing loss,’ he said. Commercial hearing aids rely on audiologists to adjust the pitch amplification.

Other features include an intense volume boost, preset equaliser profiles that reduce background noise and enhance common frequencies, and adjustable volume for each ear.

The application may also prove useful to people who aren’t yet sure they need auditory assistance. ’Some might realise they could benefit from a complete evaluation and, possibly, a more traditional hearing aid,’ Djalilian said.