The relationship and interdependence of auditory thresholds, proposed behavioural measures of hidden hearing loss, and physiological measures of auditory function

Abstract

Objectives Standard diagnostic measures focus on threshold elevation but hearing concerns may occur independently of threshold elevation – referred to as “hidden hearing loss” (HHL). A deeper understanding of HHL requires measurements that locate dysfunction along the auditory pathway. This study aimed to describe the relationship and interdependence between certain behavioural and physiological measures of auditory function that are thought to be indicative of HHL. Design Data were collected on a battery of behavioural and physiological measures of hearing. Threshold-dependent variance was removed from each measure prior to generating a multiple regression model of the behavioural measures using the physiological measures. Study Sample 224 adults in the United States with audiometric thresholds ≤65 dB HL. Results Thresholds accounted for between 21 and 60% of the variance in our behavioural measures and 5–51% in our physiological measures of hearing. There was no evidence that the behavioural measures of hearing could be predicted by the selected physiological measures. Conclusions Several proposed behavioural measures for HHL: thresholds-in-noise, frequency-modulation detection, and speech recognition in difficult listening conditions, are influenced by hearing sensitivity and are not predicted by outer hair cell or auditory nerve physiology. Therefore, these measures may not be able to assess threshold-independent hearing disorders.