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  • Title: Interpretation of pure-tone thresholds in sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL): a review of measurement variability and age-specific references.
    Author: Lemkens N, Vermeire K, Brokx JP, Fransen E, Van Camp G, Van De Heyning PH.
    Journal: Acta Otorhinolaryngol Belg; 2002; 56(4):341-52. PubMed ID: 12528251.
    Abstract:
    When assessing a patient with a sensorineural hearing impairment, the most simple and most widely available technical investigation is pure-tone audiometry. Although it is a subjective measure, the test is very reliable if the patient is cooperative. In this paper we review standards and test-retest reliability for pure-tone audiometry. A pure-tone threshold measurement at a single frequency has a chance of 90% to be repeated between -10 dB and +10 dB compared to the first measurement, assuming no real change in hearing thresholds has occurred. It is also of great importance to use correct gender- and age-specific reference values when interpreting pure-tone threshold measurements. Several large-scale epidemiological studies have been conducted during recent years, and have provided us with reliable gender- and age-specific references. A method to take into account the age-related deterioration is presented. In this method, Z-score audiograms represent traditional thresholds in an age- and gender-independent way. At each frequency, the Z-score value is the number of standard deviation units that the threshold differs from the median value for the otologically normal population (ISO 7029).
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