Priority 9 from the Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss PSP

UNCERTAINTY: How realistic are hearing tests for assessing the everyday hearing abilities of adults with mild to moderate hearing loss? (JLA PSP Priority 9)
Overall ranking 9
JLA question ID 0033/9
Explanatory note Not available for this PSP
Evidence To follow
Health Research Classification System category Ear
Extra information provided by this PSP
Original uncertainty examples

How true a picture is a hearing test? Is it possible I indicate I can hear a sound but it doesn't inform how it's heard? Eg distortion of sound?  ~  How does the audiologist take into account the difference in my hearing in the quiet and when I'm concentrating hard in a hearing test, and my everyday hearing when I am doing other things?  ~  How do you know what you can hear in a quiet sound proof room?  ~  How good are hearing tests at identifying real life hearing problems (listening to sounds in a soundproof room is not realistic)  ~  To what extent is the pure-tone audiogram a poor predictor of benefit from hearing aids for those mild to moderate hearing loss?  ~  More Realistic Hearing Tests. All hearing tests I have had were to respond to a single voice yet we hear and understand different voices quite differently.  ~  To what extent can speech-in-noise tests (e.g. Quick SIN and the ANL test) provide information which cannot be obtained from the pure-tone audiogram alone and can such additional information enhance the rehabilitation outcomes for those fitted with hearing aids?
Submitted by Service users x 7, Clinicians x 2, Others x 1
Outcomes to be measured Ecological validity of hearing assessment
PSP information
PSP unique ID 0033
PSP name Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss
Total number of uncertainties identified by this PSP. 87  (To see a full list of all uncertainties identified, please see the detailed spreadsheet held on the JLA website)
Date of priority setting workshop 3 September 2015