Open Source Mobile Software for Distributed Studies of Hearing

Internet & Audiology

July 28, 2017

Marc Shapiro, Creare
Odile Clavier, PhD, Creare
Douglas Brungart, PhD, Walter Reed Military Medical Center

Overview

Overview

System:

  • Tablet based platform for administering customized hearing assessments and questionnaires

Features:

  • Web application deployed to multiple tablet operating systems from one code base

Deployment:

  • Deployed to over 120 tablets at multiple sites, collected over 15,000 individual test records

Future:

  • Improved results output, wider deployment, extended support for Creare Wireless Audiometric Headset

Acknowledgment

This code development was supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research Materiel Command and the Army Public Health Command under SBIR Phase III Awards #W81XWH-13-C-0194 and #W81XWH-16-C-0160 to Creare LLC.

In particular, we gratefully acknowledge the support and contributions of the Audiology and Speech Center at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence in the development and extensive testing of this software.

Team

PI:

Odile Clavier

Team:

Marc Shapiro, Jesse Norris, Jed Wilbur, Brendan Flynn, Bill Finger, Rich Kaszeta, Tristan Ramey, Joffrey Peters, Veronique Archambault-Leger, Alison Van Arsdel, Brian Poland

PI:

Douglas Brungart

Team:

Ben Sheffield, Hector Galloza, Jaclyn Schurman, Tom Heil, Matt Makashay, Ben Sactler (Sensimetrics)

TabSINT System

TabSINT System

  • Mobile application for administering tablet based hearing-related tests and general-purpose questionnaires


  • Designed to be flexible, easy to use, and useful for test administrators

What Can TabSINT Do?

Questionnaires
Speech-in-Noise Tests
Connect to external devices via Bluetooth

Objective

Design Protocol

  • Develop customized study protocol
    • Create questionnaires and speech-in-noise assessments
    • Include images, audio, and video files
  • Design protocol logic
    • Adaptive on-the-fly changes to output levels
    • Change protocol content depending on user response

Implement Protocol

  • Protocols implemented used text-based (json) templates

Response Areas

Questionnaire

Speech In Noise

Creare Headset

  • Multiple Choice
  • Yes/No Input
  • Button Grid
  • Likert
  • See-Saw
  • Checkbox
  • Textbox
  • Image Map
  • Integer Input
  • Multiple Input
  • MRT
  • OMT
  • CRM
  • Three Digit Task
  • QuickSIN
  • Hughson-Westlake
  • Bekesy-Like
  • Fixed Level Frequency Threshold (FLFT)
  • Manual Audiometry
  • Multi-Level Difference (MLD)
  • Gap Detection
  • Talk-through (streaming)

Deploy Protocol to Tablets

  • Protocols uploaded to the cloud server
  • Media files can be calibrated for specific headset output

Deploy Protocol to Tablets

  • Subscribed tablets download and render protocol
  • Tablets can track multiple protocols at the same time

Administer

  • Study participants step through protocol
  • Detailed logging keeps a record of the participant's path through the protocol
  • When the participant finishes, results and logs are automatically uploaded to cloud server

Analyze

Demonstration

A Live Demo is available on the TabSINT Documentation Site:

http://creare-com.gitlab.io/tabsint/

Features

Flexible Architecture

Data Management

Three data management options to meet various research needs

  • TabSINT Server:
    • Custom server designed to host protocols, calibrate protocol media, and provide queryable results database.
  • Gitlab:
    • Open source git-based document version control system. Hosts protocols and collects results with minimal configuration.
  • Device Storage:
    • Completely offline protocol loading and results output.

TabSINT Server

Gitlab

Multilingual Support

  • Uses gettext standard multilingual format
  • Preliminary support for Japanese and French

TabSINT Plugins

  • TabSINT includes a plugin Application Programming Interface (API)
  • Allows external features to interface with TabSINT
  • Plugins currently implemented:
    • Creare Headset (Creare)
    • Sound Level Meter (Sensimetrics + WRNMMC)
    • Internal/External Mic Recorder (Sensimetrics + WRNMMC)

Creare Headset

Meinke DK, Norris JA, Flynn BP, Clavier OH. Going Wireless and Booth-Less for Hearing Testing in Industry. Int J of Aud. 2017; 56(1). doi: 10.1080/14992027.2016.1261189.

Open Source Development

The source code for TabSINT has been released publicly on Gitlab.com

Open Source Development

Open Source Development

Deployment

Overall Statistics

Since 2014, the TabSINT system has processed:

120 unique tablets, 183 unique protocols
15,000+ test results uploaded

WRNMMC Deployment

WRNMMC processed ~11,000 results
across 21+ sites since 2015

Other Activity

  • Gitlab server allows easier utilization of TabSINT beyond WRNMMC
  • 6+ groups (public and private) using TabSINT:
    • University of Northern Colorado
    • University of Connecticut
    • Dartmouth College
    • National University of Singapore
  • 34 unique tablets uploading data in 2017

Future

Features

Review

We hope to continue improving the software with contributions from the hearing assessment community

Questions


TabSINT Source: https://gitlab.com/creare-com/tabsint

TabSINT Documentation: http://creare-com.gitlab.io/tabsint
  • Includes live demo, documentation, and this presentation


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