Fogerty-led research team tackles hearing health disparities with innovative at-home assessment
By ADELYN MUI
Approximately 37.5 million adults in the United States experience hearing loss. A team from the University of Illinois is working to alleviate barriers in accessibility and affordability to hearing health care.
Dan Fogerty, an associate professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science in the College of Applied Health Sciences, recently received two grants to support his project, titled “Empowering Illinois Communities for Better Hearing Health.” The project is focused on improving access to hearing screening through an at-home assessment and focusing on a primary hearing complaint: difficult hearing in noisy environments.
One grant is from the Chancellor’s Call to Action Research Program. This program aims to empower the university community to address the greatest challenges facing our society and seek new solutions. The second grant, from Campus Research Board, supports the work done to create the self-administered hearing assessment. Total funding from the grants amounts to just under $100,000.
“Current hearing screening methods, which consist of detecting simple tones in quiet, often fail to address real-world challenges,” Fogerty said. “Hearing screening can be improved by more accurately assessing the listening difficulties that people complain about and may be more motivated to address.”
Research for this gap in treatment for hearing in noisy environments has been active for decades, Fogerty said.
“It involves both technology-focused solutions, such as advanced hardware and signal processing to reduce noise and enhance speech, as well as aural rehabilitative strategies involving education and training,” Fogerty said. “The focus of this project is to help identify the specific challenges that an individual might have when listening in noisy environments in order to customize the collection of strategies that might be most useful for them.”
A team consisting of researchers from the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Clinic, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation will develop and implement an at-home assessment, including a smartphone app. Over the course of the project, they will also examine implementation in the lab, the audiology clinic and in communities across the state.
Fogerty said this combined interdisciplinary approach will help them tackle accessibility and affordability issues.
“Our partnership with the audiology clinic ensures the translation of this research into clinical practice. ACES brings expertise in community engagement, specifically through the Illinois Extension offices which will facilitate public education and access,” Fogerty said. “OVCRI contributes research infrastructure and computational expertise through NCSA.”
NCSA, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, will support the development of a hearing app that will expand access to the innovative hearing assessment. The high prevalence of smartphones allows online and app-based testing to be possible.
Fogerty said addressing hearing disparities is a priority because untreated hearing loss has widespread medical, social and economic consequences. Adults in underserved communities can be far away from hearing centers and often face shortages in hearing services with healthcare providers. Economic barriers, such as travel costs or time away from work, may also interfere with affordability.
“Mobile self-administered hearing assessments, downloadable to a smartphone, will literally put personalized hearing health information at our fingertips,” Fogerty said.
At-home hearing assessments are innovative because they enable advanced hearing care remotely, removing barriers and costs associated with in-person clinic visits.
“These tests can be conducted anywhere at any time,” Fogerty said. “This also increases the likelihood of patient follow-up and compliance with testing recommendations due to the convenience and flexibility of the assessment.”
Hearing aid use has been reported as low as 8.6% among adults with some hearing handicap. Fogerty said there are a variety of reasons for this statistic.
“Gaps in insurance coverage and perceived social stigma may contribute,” Fogerty said. “Underestimating hearing difficulties, limited awareness of potential treatment options, or difficulty accessing services are other common reasons. Our self-assessment is designed to address some of these factors.”
Even with some over-the-counter hearing aid options, OTCs are still relatively new and many barriers remain.
“Limited awareness of hearing difficulty or treatment, stigma, out-of-pocket costs [are still factors],” Fogerty said. “OTCs are also only intended for use by adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss without other medical conditions.”
The funding for this project will start in July and last one year, with the home-based assessments planned to start in early 2026. Fogerty anticipates recruiting 200 adults across all study phases, which will include testing in the laboratory, audiology clinic and community.