A comparison of an audiometric screening survey with an in-depth research questionnaire for hearing loss and hearing loss risk factors.
Emily Mosites, Richard Neitzel, Deron Galusha and 3 others
PMID 27609310WHAT IT FOUND
Workers reported more hearing loss risk factors on a confidential research questionnaire than on their employer's screening tool.
The screening tool showed poor agreement with clinical audiometry for self-reported hearing difficulty, suggesting employees may underreport issues to their employer.
Key findings
01Workers were more likely to report hearing loss risk factors affirmatively on the confidential research questionnaire than on the company screening survey.
02The company screening question about hearing difficulty had poor agreement with clinical audiometry results, with a sensitivity of 16%.
03Using five years of screening responses improved agreement with the research questionnaire compared to using only the most recent year.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The research questionnaire was not a gold standard for evaluating hearing loss risk factors. The screening survey had fewer items than the research questionnaire and lacked questions on chemical exposures. Participants were volunteers from specific Alcoa sites, which may limit generalizability to other workplaces. The timing of the two questionnaires did not always match, though the researchers selected the closest screening date within a specific window.
Declared interests
Authors Rabinowitz and Galusha have received salary support in the past from Alcoa Inc. under a contract between Alcoa and Yale University. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a negative response on a standard workplace hearing screening questionnaire rules out hearing loss or noise exposure risk. The study showed that workers underreported risk factors on company forms compared to confidential research surveys, and the screening question on hearing difficulty had very poor sensitivity for detecting clinical impairment.