Devices
School Hearing Screener
A headphone kit that lets a school nurse run a quick hearing check, with a built-in microphone that pauses the test when the room is too loud.
Who it is for
Primary schools without audiology equipment, where mild hearing loss is often mistaken for inattention.
How it works
- Play test tones
- Child presses button
- Adaptive level
- Check room noise
- Pass / refer
In detail
The kit plays calibrated tones at several frequencies and adjusts the level up or down as the child presses a button when they hear a sound. A microphone measures background noise throughout, and a small on-device model recognises disruptions such as talking or traffic so a noisy result is never recorded as hearing loss. The output is a simple pass or refer, with a printable note for parents.
My part
- Designing the adaptive tone test and the headphone calibration step.
- Training a small noise classifier to protect the result from a noisy classroom.
- A child-friendly flow a school nurse can run without training in audiology.
Status note In development. A screening step that refers children to a specialist; it is not a clinical audiogram.