gms | German Medical Science

81st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

12.05. - 16.05.2010, Wiesbaden

Development of a table for the determination of a percentage hearing loss in noise to use in the ENT medical estimate of hearing

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Cornelia Thiele - Hörzentrum Hannover der HNO-Klinik, MHH, Hannover, Germany
  • Helga Sukowski - Universität Oldenburg, Germany
  • Markus Meis - Hörzentrum Oldenburg, Germany
  • Kirsten Wagener - Hörzentrum Oldenburg, Germany
  • Thomas Lenarz - HNO-Klinik der MHH, Hannover, Germany
  • Anke Lesinski-Schiedat - Hörzentrum der HNO-Klinik, MHH, Hannover, Germany

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 81st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Wiesbaden, 12.-16.05.2010. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2010. Doc10hno076

doi: 10.3205/10hno076, urn:nbn:de:0183-10hno0762

Published: July 6, 2010

© 2010 Thiele et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Introduction: For the ENT medical estimate of hearing the Königsteiner Merkblatt is the currently used guideline. In the determination of the hearing loss followed by the reduction in earning capacity only measurements in silence are included. Measurement in silence cannot reflect the constraints of people with marginal hearing loss in noisy environment.

Methods: Within the Audiologie Initiative Niedersachsen (AIN) it is proposed to include speech intelligibility test in noise into the determination procedure. Therefore the Göttingen sentence test in noise is taken in addition to the routine measurement for the medical estimate in hearing. At a constant noise level of 65dB the fifty percent speech understanding (L50 [dB SNR]) is determined adaptively.

Results: Using the data base of 158 patients a table was developed, which assigns the fifty percent speech understanding to a percentage hearing loss for speech in noise. For the assignment the statistical spread of the data was analyzed respecting an adequate assessment of people with marginal hearing loss.

Conclusion: With the new developed table an appropriate hearing loss for speech in noise for all hearing classes is defined. By using a simple calculation rule it can be included in the assessment for reduction in earning capacity in addition to the hearing loss for speech in silence.