HearCheck: Hearing Self-Check

HearCheck is a wellness app that lets you check how your ears are doing right now, on your own, in 3 to 5 minutes with a pair of earphones.

■ Please read this first
This app is not a medical device and cannot determine the presence of a disease. For an accurate diagnosis, please see an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

■ How the check works
· First we listen to the room to confirm it is quiet enough. If it is noisy, the app asks you to move somewhere quieter.
· A short sound confirms your earphones are not swapped left to right.
· Five tones at 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz, 4000Hz and 8000Hz are played to your left ear and your right ear separately.
· All you do is press the large button whenever you hear a sound.

■ What your result looks like
· One of three levels: Normal, Slightly reduced, or Consultation advised.
· See at a glance which frequencies came through clearly and which did not.
· Past results are collected into a graph so you can watch how things change.
· Save your result as an image or share it with your family.
· Find an ear, nose, and throat clinic near you on the map.

■ We keep your data to a minimum
· No account, no name, no date of birth.
· Your self-check history is stored only on this device and is never sent to a server.
· The microphone is used briefly to gauge how quiet the room is. Nothing is recorded, saved or sent.
· You can erase your entire history at any time from Settings.
· A banner ad at the bottom of the screen keeps the app free.

■ A reminder so you do not forget
· Every 3 months we send a gentle nudge to check again.
· You can change the reminder time to whatever suits you in Settings.

■ Who this is for
· People who keep turning up the TV or their music
· People who struggle to follow speech in a noisy place
· People who wear earphones for hours at a time
· Anyone wondering how their parents are hearing

■ For a reliable check
· Do it in a quiet room.
· Wear your earphones the right way round.
· Set the device volume to 60 to 70 percent and leave it alone while you check.
· Earphones are required. A speaker cannot present sound to each ear separately.

■ Built to be usable by everyone
· A screen reader can carry you through the whole flow without looking at the screen.
· Buttons are large, and the app follows your device setting for reduced motion.
· Turning up your system font size will not break the layout.

■ One more time
This app is not a medical device and cannot determine the presence of a disease. For an accurate diagnosis, please see an ear, nose, and throat specialist. Results are for reference only. If the difficulty continues, please visit an ear, nose, and throat clinic near you.