Prevalence and Audiological Findings of Functional Hearing Loss

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the present study was to estimate the period prevalence of functional hearing loss and to describe the audiological findings of individuals having FHL. Methods Retrospective analysis of records of 1209 individuals who visited the institute for routine audiological evaluation was carried out. Among them, there were 115 individuals with FHL who were identified based on predetermined criteria. Information such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, and geographical area of the individuals with FHL was obtained retrospectively. In addition, findings of behavioral and objective audiological tests in these individuals were analyzed. Results to prevalence of FHL during the period of the study was found to be 9.5%. Demographical analysis suggests that 76 (66.1%) out of 115 individuals were males and 39 (33.9%) individuals were female. Analysis of geographical and socioeconomical data revealed a higher number of individuals were from rural areas (58.3%) and belong to a lower socioeconomic status (68.7%). The agreement between pure tone average and auditory brainstem response was found to be highly sensitive (93%) in identifying FHL. In contrast, the agreement between PTA with other tests such as speech reception thresholds (60%), Acoustic reflex threshold (62%), and otoacoustic emissions (45%) was found to be less sensitive. Conclusion A notable period prevalence suggests that practicing audiologists should be cautious while testing individuals with hearing impairments, especially adults. It is important for audiologists to carefully observe the individuals and also to perform a detailed audiological test battery using behavioral and objective measures.