Reliability of Measures Intended to Assess Threshold-Independent Hearing Disorders.
Aryn M Kamerer, Judy G Kopun, Sara E Fultz and 2 others
PMID 30882533WHAT IT FOUND
Frequency-modulation detection and otoacoustic emissions stayed stable across repeat visits in 17 adults with normal hearing, while word recognition and speech-evoked brainstem responses were less stable.
Key findings
01After removing threshold-in-quiet effects, frequency-modulation detection was classified as good across visits.
02After removing threshold-in-quiet effects, distortion-product otoacoustic emissions were good at 1.5 kHz and excellent at 4 kHz.
03After removing threshold-in-quiet effects, speech-evoked auditory brainstem response residual peak amplitudes were not reliable.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 17 adults with normal hearing were tested, so the confidence intervals around stability estimates were wide and the study cannot tell how these measures behave in patients with suspected hidden hearing loss. The participants had normal thresholds and middle ear function, so ceiling effects may have made word recognition look less stable than it would be in a group with a wider range of hearing. Testing took about eight hours per participant across visits, which may have contributed to fatigue and limited the number of frequencies tested. The analysis used residuals after removing threshold-in-quiet effects, so reliability depends on how well threshold in quiet itself is measured, although threshold in quiet was very stable. The study did not test whether any measure correctly identifies hidden hearing loss; it only assessed whether scores stayed stable between visits.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include an author conflict-of-interest or funding statement. The publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that any of these tests diagnose hidden hearing loss. The paper only checked whether scores were stable across repeat visits in 17 adults with normal hearing, and stable scores do not show that a test can identify a disorder.