Smartphone Video Otoscope To The Rescue: The HearScope Review

Did you know the smallest bones in your body have a super important function? One which you use constantly? The ossicles are just a few millimetres in size, but they help you hear in every second of the day – even when you’re sleeping!

Your hearing outer-, middle- and inner ear is a delicate, special system. Examining it requires special skills and a lengthy training. Creating the opportunity to safely observe some parts of this system by non-medical personnel is empowering. This offers a possibility for long distance consultation and telemedicine as well.

Is the future of ENT here?

Hearables – the term lining the appearance of hearing and ear-based technologies, such as headphones, earbuds, hearing aids, and many other devices that measure health parameters via the ear. They signify a new age of treating hearing-related health troubles. These devices can combine multiple functions, used for both diagnostics or treatment. They often feature innovative solutions in style, colour, and accessibility. 

The pandemic clearly highlighted the importance of telemedicine and digital health gadgets. ENT is a field of precision and detail, so designing a digital tool that can be used by doctors and patients alike proving to be useful for both groups is quite a challenge to say the least. So naturally we just had to test a new gadget in this area!

The product, hearScope, can be attached to a smartphone and turned into a video otoscope quickly. The otorhinolaryngologist can take pictures during the examination and show the patient exactly where the problem is. And non-medical users can take a video of any family member’s ear and send it for consultation to an otorhinolaryngology specialist. This is especially useful in the case of a small child or an elderly relative, as they are less willing to go to the doctor’s office than adults.

We asked Tamás Horváth, MD, our ENT expert for his professional opinion. He helped us test the device and gave feedback on some important factors. So, let’s see if this device can meet our high expectations!

Hearing is believing

Opening the box, we find the hearScope device, connectors for different ports, a stand, a few speculas in different sizes and a quick setup guide. This whole package comes in a practical carrying case. It’s made of a durable material, and has plenty of room for all these smaller parts while not taking up much space itself. The design of the otoscope is elegant and has a professional feel. The materials used are long-lasting and high-quality.

After connecting the device to your phone and downloading the app you’re ready to go! The cord is just the right length, long enough for the phone to be left on the table, and short enough so it wouldn’t tangle and disturb you. Navigating the otoscope in the ear and simultaneously managing the focus and taking pictures need a bit of learning. However, it’s totally attainable in the long run.

Are you all ears?

The app is user friendly with a clear layout. Unfortunately, you cannot set up new profiles for every new patient. The app categories your captures in sessions or by pathologies. There’s clearly an issue with Android 10 phones because basic features of the app don’t work! After downloading an unofficial version of the app (recommended by the company), all issues seemed to be resolved. However, even in this version, the instantaneous A.I. classification doesn’t seem to label healthy pictures and has trouble identifying pathologies. But when it does recognise a problem, it shows even the certainty level!

There were issues with the focus. The autocrop and autozoom features are tied together so sometimes altering the focus means a little too much zoom. This issue didn’t always present and when it did, turning off this feature solved everything. Adjusting the focus is done on the otoscope and it works quite well.

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The resolution is not perfect. In our opinion, it’s good enough for most examinations. It’s great for teleconsultation, taking pictures for presentations and showing the patients what their ears look like as well. It was a bit disappointing to see that the light intensity cannot be adjusted. As Dr. Tamás Horváth is an otorhinolaryngologist, we also tested hearScope for throat and nose examinations. The company doesn’t advertise the device in that setting, and they are right, it did not perform well enough to be used regularly for other than ears.

A lesson in otorhinolaryngology

Where can we see it perform best and even used regularly? In an ear-nose-throat specialists’ office it could be used to strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and educate people on their conditions. We’re sure hearScope could be super useful for GPs and ER doctors too, since operating the device is easy to learn and it has high potential in teleconsultation.

There’s even a recent study conducted in Kenya showing how community health workers with little to no prior medical experience can learn hearing check-up basics combined with video otoscopy and perform successful screenings in low income territories.

Hear us out…

All in all, we do recommend hearScope for healthcare centres and medical professionals! The price may be a bit steep for personal use in our opinion. It’s a portable, easy to use digital health device that offers useful features and a constantly evolving A.I. assistance. It can only be used for the ears, but in the long run, helping patients understand their conditions a bit more is sure to bring success.