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American Family Physician Apr 2024Hearing loss is a prevalent, chronic condition in the United States; it is often gradual and progressive and is underreported by patients and undertreated by physicians.... (Review)
Review
Hearing loss is a prevalent, chronic condition in the United States; it is often gradual and progressive and is underreported by patients and undertreated by physicians. The impaired ability to effectively hear and communicate may result in negative emotional, cognitive, economic, and social consequences for individuals and may pose a safety risk. Questionnaires and smartphone apps are available to help identify and evaluate self-perceived hearing loss. Physicians should assess for objective hearing impairment when the patient or family member raises a concern or if cognitive or mood symptoms are present that could be influenced by hearing loss. Three types of hearing loss exist: conductive, sensorineural, and mixed. Pure-tone audiometry uses an audiometer and is reported on an audiogram; it is the most accurate method for hearing loss detection. It can be used for screening or comprehensive testing when combined with tympanometry, speech-reception thresholds, and word-recognition testing. Audiograms that show a unilateral or asymmetrical sensorineural hearing loss can be signs of retrocochlear pathology and warrant additional evaluation by an audiologist and otolaryngologist as well as imaging studies. Medicare Parts A and B do not pay for hearing aids, although some Medicare Advantage (Part C) or supplemental plans may provide insurance coverage for hearing aids. Less expensive, over-the-counter hearing aids may help mild to moderate hearing loss. Family physicians should counsel patients on the importance of protecting their hearing.
Topics: Humans; Hearing Loss; Adult; United States; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Audiometry
PubMed: 38648830
DOI: No ID Found -
Physics in Medicine and Biology Jan 1971
Review
Topics: Audiometry; Auditory Perception; Auditory Threshold; Ear; Environment; Hearing; Hearing Tests; Humans; Models, Biological; Psychophysiology; Sound
PubMed: 4931530
DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/16/1/201 -
American Journal of Audiology Mar 2022The purpose of this clinical focus article was to describe a new online simulation program for pure-tone audiometry.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this clinical focus article was to describe a new online simulation program for pure-tone audiometry.
METHOD
Fictional but realistic patient profiles and testing environments were created to teach students about hearing screening protocols and pure-tone audiology. The diversity of the demographics of the United States is represented throughout the program. The web app was created using HTML/JS/CSS with a Flask server backend and MySQL database.
RESULTS
The program allows students to learn the process of conducting a hearing screening and measuring audiometric thresholds using a web-based virtual clinical audiometer. The virtual audiometer includes standard audiometer features and allows for instruction based on standard guidelines. The diversity of the patients within the simulation program allows for discussions of diversity to be woven throughout the curriculum.
CONCLUSIONS
The new simulation program is designed for use as a clinical training tool enabling undergraduate and graduate students to actively participate in hearing screening testing and pure-tone audiometry using any web browser. The program is also designed with the intent to improve pedagogical outcomes at the undergraduate and graduate level for communication sciences and disorders education for pure-tone audiometry by providing instructors with content that focuses on the diversity that is represented in the demographics of the United States.
Topics: Audiology; Audiometry; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Education, Distance; Humans
PubMed: 34958736
DOI: 10.1044/2021_AJA-21-00121 -
Journal of the American Academy of... Jan 2022There is an increasing need to administer hearing tests outside of sound-attenuating rooms. Maximum permissible ambient noise levels (MPANLs) from published in standards...
BACKGROUND
There is an increasing need to administer hearing tests outside of sound-attenuating rooms. Maximum permissible ambient noise levels (MPANLs) from published in standards (Occupational Health and Safety Administration [OSHA] 1983; American National Standards Institute [ANSI] S3.1-1999 (R2018)) can be modified to account for the additional attenuation provided by circumaural earphones (relative to supra-aural earphones) that are used for pure-tone audiometry. Ambient noise can influence the results of pure-tone audiometry by elevating thresholds by direct masking and by producing distractions that affect the accuracy of the test. The effects of these distractions have not been studied in relation to pure-tone audiometry in adult listeners.
PURPOSE
In Part I MPANLs provided by ANSI and OSHA standards are extended to account for the greater attenuation provided by circumaural earphones. Rules ("alerts") were developed taking into account the listeners' thresholds. In Part II effects of distracting noise on pure-tone thresholds are reported.
METHODS AND RESULTS
In Part I MPANLs two standards were modified for circumaural earphones by adding the additional attenuation provided by three circumaural earphones (relative to supra-aural earphones). A set of rules ("alerts") is provided for identifying masking effects from ambient noise in a variety of conditions (earphone type, threshold elevation, uncovered ear). In Part II the distracting effects of an industrial noise sample on thresholds obtained from five listeners with normal hearing are described. Pure-tone thresholds were measured in quiet and in distracting noise presented at various levels. The effects of the distracting noise on the following variables were measured: time per trial, number of trials required to measure threshold, threshold shift, and perceived distractibility of the noise. Time per trial was unaffected by distracting noise. Number of trials required for threshold, threshold shift, and perceived distractibility increased with distracting noise level.
CONCLUSION
Part I: The modified MPANLs provide more relevant determinations of the potential effects of ambient noise on pure-tone thresholds than the values in the standards. Part II: Distracting noise affects pure-tone threshold measurements in a manner that is different from direct masking. The potential contaminating effect of distracting noise can be measured and reported.
Topics: Adult; Audiometry; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Auditory Threshold; Cognition Disorders; Humans; Noise; Sound
PubMed: 35817024
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1735803 -
HNO Mar 2017
Topics: Audiometry; Audiometry, Speech; Speech
PubMed: 27933347
DOI: 10.1007/s00106-016-0299-3 -
ENTechnology Sep 1989The measurement of hearing sensitivity during audiometry requires precise presentation of auditory stimuli. In most cases, these stimuli are introduced to the listener... (Review)
Review
The measurement of hearing sensitivity during audiometry requires precise presentation of auditory stimuli. In most cases, these stimuli are introduced to the listener via standard earphones. Technical problems associated with these earphones have troubled clinicians for years. An alternative earphone system for audiometry was introduced that uses shoulder-worn transducers with inserts for connection with the external auditory canal. Although insert earphones are not intended to supplant standard earphones, experimental evidence and clinical observations support the advantageousness of these earphones under a variety of clinical conditions.
Topics: Audiometry; Equipment Design; Humans
PubMed: 2692634
DOI: No ID Found -
Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America Oct 1978Two aspects of speech audiometry, namely, the speech reception threshold and the speech discrimination scores, have been discussed in the light of their development and...
Two aspects of speech audiometry, namely, the speech reception threshold and the speech discrimination scores, have been discussed in the light of their development and present day administration. Evidence was presented to forego the concept of phonetic balance in discrimination test messages for the preferable attributes of familiarity and equated list difficulty. Campbell's redistribution of the W-22 word lists was proposed as an available solution to one of these parameters. Some delineation of the single "maximal" discrimination score's relation to the prediction of the hearing impaired individual's ability to understand continuous discourse was offered. Diagnostic implications of speech audiometry were not treated.
Topics: Audiometry; Humans; Speech Discrimination Tests; Speech Reception Threshold Test
PubMed: 733252
DOI: No ID Found -
International Journal of Audiology Apr 2023The primary objective of the current study was the validation of a cloud-centralized audiometry system for clinical practice.
OBJECTIVE
The primary objective of the current study was the validation of a cloud-centralized audiometry system for clinical practice.
DESIGN
A cross-sectional study design was used.
STUDY SAMPLE
A convenience sample of patients (>10 years old) booked for follow-up appointments were invited to participate. Participants completed both conventional and online digital audiometry in a standard sound treated clinic space during a single clinic visit; tests were completed in random order. Data for both ears were included. Patients were from one of three audiological practices.
RESULTS
A total of 41 participants completed both audiometric tests. Validation study results showed that the mean difference between the two audiometric test results remained within 5 dB HL for both air and bone conduction thresholds at all tested frequencies.
CONCLUSIONS
Online digital audiometry has been demonstrated as a clinically accurate method for hearing assessment.
Topics: Humans; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Auditory Threshold; Audiometry; Bone Conduction; Sound
PubMed: 35337229
DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2022.2052979 -
Ear and Hearing Aug 1987This paper reviews a number of studies on temporal integration of acoustic power at threshold. A wide variety of results for normal-hearing individuals and for... (Review)
Review
This paper reviews a number of studies on temporal integration of acoustic power at threshold. A wide variety of results for normal-hearing individuals and for hearing-impaired patients is revealed. This variability limits the current clinical application of brief tone audiometry.
Topics: Audiometry; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Female; Humans; Male; Time Factors
PubMed: 3308594
DOI: 10.1097/00003446-198708001-00005 -
Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America Oct 1978
Topics: Audiometry; Automation; Humans
PubMed: 733254
DOI: No ID Found