Perceptions of Vocal Performance Impairment in Singers with and without Hearing Loss.
Gurmehr Brar, Einav Silverstein, Melissa Zheng and 4 others
PMID 34315652WHAT IT FOUND
Singers with hearing loss reported more voice problems and greater singing voice handicap.
Their perceived singing accuracy varied by sex: men mostly reported no negative effect, women showed some accuracy differences.
Key findings
01Singers who reported a hearing problem were significantly more likely to report voice problems than singers with normal hearing (P = 0.001).
02After controlling for other factors, singers with hearing impairment were more likely to have an SVHI-10 score of 10 or higher (OR = 4.01, CI 1.68 to 9.54).
03Male singers with hearing loss mostly reported no negative effect on pitch matching, pitch maintenance, dynamic control, or vowel matching, while female singers showed significant differences in pitch matching and vowel matching.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used an anonymous online survey collected over a short period, so it did not allow random sampling. Participants self-reported hearing loss, voice problems, accuracy, and singing handicap, so response bias and recall bias could affect results. No objective audiometric measurements or acoustic measurements of singing accuracy were collected, so perceived problems could not be compared with actual hearing or voice performance. The study measured perceptions at one time point, so it cannot show that hearing loss caused voice problems. Most reported hearing loss was mild (48.3%) or moderate (37.9%), so findings may not apply to severe hearing loss. Only 43 male participants were included, so male-specific accuracy findings may be underpowered. The SVHI-10 cutoff of 10 was chosen from normative and study distribution information, so dichotomizing scores may affect interpretation.
Declared interests
The listed authors declared no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that hearing loss causes singing voice problems or that hearing aids improve singing. This was a self-report survey with no objective hearing or acoustic voice measures, and it did not test aural rehabilitation.