"Someone [in the class] must have asked, 'How much are hearing aids?' and he said something like $5,000," Wong said.
The students and Wong were both surprised by the price.
"[Wong] brought up the idea that hearing aids are very expensive and that a new solution needs to be found," Djalilian said. "He asked, "Has anyone used an iPhone as a hearing aid?'"
Wong and Djalilian discovered that the only thing available for iPhones or iPods was an app that amplified sound. Where an amplifier makes all sound loud, Djalilian said, most people with hearing loss only need certain pitches amplified.
They had the idea, now they needed to execute it.
"It sat on our desks for the longest time until a really bright medical student came into my lab," Wong said.
Allen Foulad, 28, decided to give the app a shot.
"At the time, I had some programming experience but I didn't have an iPhone, iPod or even a Mac," Foulad said.
Foulad borrowed an iPod, used the school's mac lab and quickly adapted to the system.
Within months, Foulad created the app.
"It actually analyzes your hearing," he said. "It not only gives you an audiogram but it also puts it in lay terms for the user and analyzes what might be wrong."
Foulad requested a study from the state's Institutional Review Board for approval to start research on people.
The study was approved by the summer and the app was available on iTunes on Aug. 14.
Everyone at UCI Medical Center was very supportive, the three said, especially Dean Dr. Ralph Clayman, who gave the most recent class iPads.
Wong, Djalilian and Foulad are hoping that future students will have the EarTrumpet app downloaded on their iPads and will use them in the student-run health clinics.
"They are using nothing to screen people for hearing loss," Foulad said. "There's no means to do it at the clinic."
