EarHealth: An Earphone-based Acoustic Otoscope for Detection of Multiple Ear Diseases in Daily Life

With the aging of the population and the long-time wearing of earphones, hearing health has gradually emerged as a worldwide health issue. Early detection of hearing health conditions would greatly reduce potential risks with timely medical intervention. This study proposes an earphone-based ear condition monitoring system, named EarHealth, which is low-cost, non-invasive, and easily usable in daily life. It can detect three major hearing health conditions: ruptured eardrum, earwax buildup and blockage, and otitis media. By analyzing the recorded echoes evoked by a chirp sound stimulus, EarHealth recognizes the distinguishable characteristics from ear canal structure and eardrum mobility. EarHealth achieves an accuracy of 82.6% in 92 human subjects, including 27 normal subjects, 22 patients with ruptured eardrum, 25 patients with otitis media, and 18 patients with earwax blockage. EarHealth is the first earphone-based system capable of monitoring hearing health conditions by utilizing the ear canal geometry and eardrum mobility. It is anticipated that EarHealth would provide pervasive and proactive protection for hearing health.