The Accuracy of Sensorineural Acuity Level Test in Predicting Bone Conduction Thresholds in Unilateral Hearing Loss Cases

Abstract

The sensorineural acuity level (SAL) test is useful to determine the type of hearing loss if overmasking occurs in pure-tone audiometry (PTA) testing. In this article, we report two unilateral hearing loss cases to highlight the accuracy of the SAL test in predicting bone conduction (BC) thresholds in unilateral hearing loss cases, as well as the importance of using the appropriate SAL normative data. As found, the estimated BC thresholds (provided by the SAL test) were in good agreement with the actual BC thresholds (from the PTA) (i.e. within ± 5 dB) for both sensorineural hearing loss and conductive hearing loss cases. The accuracy of the SAL test is adequate to support the PTA results. Implementing inappropriate normative data may result in the misdiagnosis of the type of hearing loss.