Abstract
The present investigation measured how well elderly persons hear in everyday auditory communication situations. It was felt that traditional clinical measures of auditory performance have not been shown to be valid predictors of communication function for an elderly population. Participants ranged in age from fifty-five to seventy-two years. In addition to several standard audiometric tests, a new speech test incorporating sentence material was administered in both quiet and noise. As a measure of general communication performance, a hearing questionnaire was developed. The findings indicated that the results of the new Speech-In-Noise (SIN) test were better predictors of hearing communication performance than any of the traditional audiometric measures by a wide margin (.73 versus .62). Statistical analysis further indicated that the SIN test could replace all of the standard audiometric tests in the evaluation of hearing of elderly listeners. Because the SIN test is so brief, given in five to seven minutes, and so easily administered, this test is ideal for mass screening of hearing among the elderly.
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