Screening of hearing in elderly people: assessment of accuracy and reproducibility of the whispered voice test

This study therefore aimed to determine the accuracy and reproducibility of the whispered voice test as a screening method for detecting hearing impairment in older people. This cross-sectional study was carried out with 210 older adults aged between 60 and 97 years who underwent the whispered voice test employing ten different phrases and using audiometry as a reference test. Sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values were calculated and accuracy was measured by calculating the area under the ROC curve. The test was repeated on 20% of the ears by a second examiner to assess inter-examiner reproducibility (IER). The words and phrases that showed the highest area under the curve (AUC) and IER values were: “ shoe ” (AUC = 0.918; IER = 0.877), “ window ” (AUC = 0.917; IER = 0.869), “ it looks like it's going to rain ” (AUC = 0.911; IER = 0.810), and “ the bus is late ” (AUC = 0.900; IER = 0.810), demonstrating that the whispered voice test is a useful screening tool for detecting hearing loss among older people. It is proposed that these words and phrases should be incorporated into the whispered voice test protocol.
Source: Ciencia e Saude Coletiva - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research