Is too much clubbing starting to hurt your ears? Or, maybe you've been sitting too close to the loudspeakers on Bingo night at the firehouse. For young and older people concerned about hearing loss, there's a new application that lets you test yourself in the privacy of your iPhone.

"uHear" is the name of the free download from Unitron, designed to measure your hearing sensitivity, speech in noise (comfort level in understanding speech over background noise), and other common listening situations.

"It walks you through each step and works on hearing sensitivity. You hear a 'ping' and you have to respond at what level you still hear it. If you were to go to an audiologist they would use this same mechanism to test your hearing," explained a spokesperson for Unitron, a hearing aid maker. "A lot of people might think they have hearing problems but don't want to tell anybody. So you can test it in private."

The app doesn't take the place of professional testing, but provides an initial assessment to give users an idea of whether their hearing is within the normal range or they should go for help.

The application instructs users in setting up their phone to perform the hearing test. "It tells you step by step what you need to do in order to make sure the test is accurate such as what your [volume] level should be," Unitron said. "Whether you are using ear phones or ear buds makes a difference--whether they are in your ear or just resting on top. So it is really well developed to take that into consideration."

The app has exceeded the coveted quarter-million download mark. The screening test for the iPhone™ and iPod touch® has seen a continuous position on iTunes top 10 medical downloads since its release, making uHear the most widely distributed hearing screening test ever.

Apple recently announced that their iTunes selection exceeded over 140,000 applications. Though a handful of applications have exceeded the millions of downloads mark (Facebook, Myspace), the majority average only 3,000.

The uHear application created by Unitron is available worldwide, in both English and French and can be downloaded free of charge through Apple iTunes at http://itunes.com/apps/uhear

Find out more at http://www.unitron.com/people/hearingloss/treatment/testyourself.htm.

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