CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA — This week Apple released a new update to its Research App, which includes a new ‘Speech in Noise’ test as part of the Apple Hearing Study, which was included as part of the original Apple Research App launch in the fall of 2019.
The Hearing Study was launched as part of a collaboration with the University of Michigan to gain a better understanding of how noise exposure impacts hearing health using “the capabilities and ubiquity of Apple products to conduct this large-scale study”.
The Hearing Study is said to have 4 objectives:
- To understand typical headphone listening patterns and sound exposures, and their relationship to current and future hearing health;
- For Apple Watch users, to understand typical environmental sound exposures, and their relationship to current and future hearing health;
- To study how participants interact with data about their own headphone listening patterns and environmental sound exposures;
- For Apple Watch users, to understand the relationship between environmental sound exposures and cardiovascular health.
In addition to “bug fixes” the newly announced update included:
• New ’Speech in Noise’ test in the Apple Hearing Study to help understand participants’ hearing ability under various circumstances, including the presence of background noise
• New survey in the Apple Heart & Movement Study to help understand the impact of COVID-19 on daily life
You can download the new Research app update here. Users must sign up to participate to allow their data to be used in support of the hearing health research.
A video discussing the original launch of the Hearing Study can be viewed below:
Source: Apple
