Hearing

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Working Paper No.3 Add.5 11
November 2005 STATISTICAL COMMISSION
and STATISTICAL OFFICE OF THE UN ECONOMIC
COMMISSION FOR EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES EUROPE
(EUROSTAT)   CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN WORLD
HEALTH STATISTICIANS ORGANIZATION
(WHO) Joint UNECE/WHO/Eurostat Meeting on the
Measurement of Health Status (Budapest, Hungary,
14-16 November 2005)   Session 3 Invited paper
Hearing
Jennifer MadansNational Center for Health
Statistics, U.S.A
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Hearing

• Concept
• Ability to distinguish sounds
• Related but not equivalent to understanding and
  communicating
• Hearing ability/loss can vary by
• The loudness of the sound
• The pitch of the sound
• The level and nature of background noise
• Availability of visual cues
• Specification of activity within the domain
• Attempt to standardize stimuli by specifying the
  above dimensions either directly or indirectly

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Proposed Items for Measuring Hearing

• One option is to use the questions from the
  European Health Status Module
• Can you distinctly hear what is said in a
  conversation with several people without a
  hearing aid or other aids for hearing? Yes/No
• If no Can you distinctly hear what is said in a
  conversation with several people with a hearing
  aid? Yes/No/Has no hearing aids
• If yes skip next question
• Can you distinctly hear what is said in a
  conversation with one person without a hearing
  aid? Yes/No
• If no Can you distinctly hear what is said in a
  conversation with one person with a hearing aid?
  Yes/No/Has no hearing aids

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Hearing Characteristics of Proposal Questions

• Filter Question
• Not used
• Assistive Devices
• Functioning ability obtained with and without
  hearing aids if used
• Recall period/chronicity
• Not specified
• Response categories
• Yes/No
• Severity
• Measured through task ability to hear in a
  conversation with several people vs. one person

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Alternative Question Set

• Questions about hearing aid use
• (Without a hearing aid) Can.usually hear what a
  person says without seeing his face if he
  whispers to.from across a quiet room?
• (Without a hearing aid) Can.usually hear what a
  person says without seeing his face if he talks
  in a normal voice to.from across a quiet room?
• (Without a hearing aid) Can.usually hear what a
  person says without seeing his face if he shouts
  to.from across a quiet room?
• (Without a hearing aid) Can.usually hear what a
  person says if he speaks loudly intos better
  ear?
• (Without a hearing aid) Can ..usually tell the
  sound of speech from other sounds and noises?
• (Without a hearing aid) Can.usually tell one
  kind of noise from another?
• (Without a hearing aid) Can.hear loud noise?