Laboratory and hospital testing of new infrared tympanic thermometers.

A patented approach to infrared thermometry based on the use of a standard pyrosensor has resulted in the development of two new infrared tympanic thermometers, one for professional use, the other for home use. Both were tested to evaluate accuracy in the laboratory and to evaluate equivalence to standards, correlation to standards, and precision in human subjects. Accuracy was found to be well within ASTM standards on both models. Mean ear temperatures were 0.2 degrees C below oral and 0.7 degrees C below bladder temperature. Correlations between ear and oral and ear and bladder temperatures were r = .77 to .84. Repeatability in the same ear was very high at r = .95 (left) and .97 (right). Reproducibility between left and right ear ranged from r = .89 to .92.