Calling the hearing check

You should not call the check from a mobile phone as the quality of the line may affect your result. We recommend you call the check from a landline that is located in a quiet place.

What happens when you call the check

The check takes about five minutes. You will hear a voice recording that tells you how the check works, then talks you through it. When your hearing is being checked, the voice says three randomly generated digits; for example, you may hear it say "The digits 1, 4, 9". This happens around 20 times. Throughout, you use your telephone keypad to type in the digits you heard: you don't have to actually say anything during the check. The digits are played over background noise so it can become hard to hear what the digits are.

At the end of the check, you are given a result: normal, below normal or well below normal. You are then given advice about what to do next.

How the check works

The check is a 'speech-in-noise' test. What this does is to check your ability to hear someone speaking within background noise that is similar to a crowded room. This background noise is called speech-shaped noise and in the hearing check it sounds like a rushing noise. The advantage of this kind of test is that it checks your hearing ability within a social context. If you do have a problem with hearing in a noisy environment, a hearing aid is an excellent solution.

A European solution

RNID adapted a system from the Netherlands which was then validated at five universities around the UK under the guidance of Professor Mark Lutman of the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at the University of Southampton.

Hearcom

The check builds upon technology developed by the Hearcom project, a European research project that aims to reduce many of the barriers to communication that hard of hearing people face. The Hearcom project is supported by grants from the European Union, see www.hearcom.org for more information about this project. RNID is a partner within Hearcom, see www.rnid.org.uk/hearcom for information about our role within the project.

Acknowledgements

RNID thanks Professor Lutman for his work on this project.

The digit sequences used in the screening test were recorded at Hörzentrum Oldenburg and developed as part of the Hearcom project, supported by grants from the European Union. Thanks also to the VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam.

The following universities helped in the validation of the screening test and we would like to thank them for their input: