title: Frequency-specific Animal Sound Test (FAST) 4: A valid method for hearing screening.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is essential to monitor hearing status in children not only as a mandatory requirement during universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS), but also later during preschool and school-age development. The present study considers the appropriateness of the Frequency-specific Animal Sound Test (FAST4) for use in children between the ages of 2.5 and 10 years; the comparability of hearing thresholds determined using FAST4 and those measured by pure tone audiometry (PTA); and the clinical and diagnostic utility of FAST4 in a variety of pediatric settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  322 children aged 2.6-14.1 years and 41 adults were tested with FAST4. Four animal sounds were presented via headphones and a hearing threshold was determined for the high and low frequency range. In addition, the hearing threshold of each child was measured by PTA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results were analyzed from 156 normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children, mostly above the age of 4 years. In general, FAST4 yielded hearing levels comparable with those from PTA in children and in adults. FAST4 frequently had to be halted prematurely in children under 4 years old.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FAST4 is a strong candidate for use as an instrument for preschool hearing screening and offers several advantages over other hearing tests. FAST4 permits simple, swift and efficient determination of the hearing threshold and the test can be administered by staff without specialist training. A number of improvements have already been integrated into the successor model known as mFAST.
authors.affiliation: Department of Voice, Speech and Hearing Disorders, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nolte
authors.affiliation: Institute for Audiopedagogics, University of Cologne, Solingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Frans
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Coninx
authors.affiliation: Department of Voice, Speech and Hearing Disorders, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Voice, Speech and Hearing Disorders, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.affiliation: Department of Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology, Werner Otto Institut, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiesner
authors.affiliation: Comprehensive School Uellendahl-Katernberg, Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Nikolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.affiliation: Department of Voice, Speech and Hearing Disorders, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: a.rohlfs@uke.de.
authors.forename: Anna-Katharina
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Rohlfs
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001299:Audiometry / Q000379:methods*; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D013016:Sound; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
keywords: Frequency-specific Animal Sound Test (FAST4); Preschool hearing screening; Screening instrument for pediatric practice