A comparison of self-reported hearing and pure tone threshold average in the Iowa Farm Family Health and Hazard Survey.
BACKGROUND
Self-reported hearing measures are useful for surveying hearing loss in a population because they are short, and easy to administer by either questionnaire or telephone. This study aims to assess the performance of several self-reported hearing measures to identify hearing loss in a group of Iowa farmers.


METHODS
The study subjects were 98 male farmers who participated in the Iowa Farm Family Health and Hazard Survey. We tested three self-reported hearing measures; the hearing screening questions, the Rating Scale for Each Ear (RSEE), and the Health, Education and Welfare-Expanded Hearing Ability Scale (HEW-EHAS), which were originally developed and implemented in the National Health Interview Survey. The sensitivity and specificity of the self-reported hearing measures were assessed by comparing them with pure tone threshold averages. These sensitivity and specificity measures were compared between younger and older age groups.


RESULTS
The sensitivities of the screening questions, RSEE, and HEW-EHAS were 73.0%, 66.7%, and 53.3%, respectively. The specificities of the self-reported hearing measures were similar, which ranged from 81.4% to 84.8%. The sensitivities of the self-reported hearing measures were higher in the younger age group while the specificities were higher in the older age group.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study support the use of simple screening questions in identifying hearing loss among farmers.
Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242-5000, USA.
Seong-Woo
SW
Choi
Corinne
C
Peek-Asa
Craig
C
Zwerling
Nancy L
NL
Sprince
Risto H
RH
Rautiainen
Paul S
PS
Whitten
Greg A
GA
Flamme
D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000382:Agricultural Workers' Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000379:methods*; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D006306:Health Surveys; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires