Extended High-Frequency Thresholds: Associations With Demographic and Risk Factors, Cognitive Ability, and Hearing Outcomes in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.
Karen S Helfer, Lizmarie Maldonado, Lois J Matthews and 2 others
PMID 38987892WHAT IT FOUND
Extended high-frequency hearing loss correlates with age, sex, and race.
It explains some self-reported hearing difficulty in older adults but adds no predictive value for speech-in-noise scores or for people with normal conventional hearing.
Key findings
01Extended high-frequency thresholds worsen with age, are better in females and racial minorities, and are worse with noise history in older adults.
02Extended high-frequency thresholds explain additional variance in self-reported hearing difficulties for older adults beyond conventional thresholds, but not for middle-aged adults.
03For individuals with clinically normal hearing at conventional frequencies, extended high-frequency thresholds did not explain variation in self-reported hearing difficulties or speech perception in noise.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The speech perception test used (SPIN) likely lacked extended high-frequency information due to recording bandwidth and transducer limitations, potentially underestimating the impact of extended high-frequency hearing loss on real-world listening. Thresholds beyond 12 kHz were excluded from analysis because many participants had non-responses at higher frequencies. The study used a cross-sectional design, so it cannot determine causality or track changes within individuals over time. Data came from a retrospective analysis of a cohort study, which may introduce selection biases inherent to the original recruitment.
Declared interests
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume extended high-frequency testing will explain hearing complaints in patients with normal conventional audiograms. In this study, for participants with normal conventional hearing, extended high-frequency thresholds did not correlate with self-reported difficulties or speech perception in noise.