Clinical care for patients who report substantial hearing difficulties despite having little or no hearing loss is a topic of great debate within and beyond audiology. Building on our previous retrospective review of veterans evaluated for auditory processing disorders across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the current work presents five such case studies....
Audiologists working with veterans reporting hearing difficulties despite normal audiograms should consider formal auditory processing assessment; these case studies illustrate assessment approaches but do not constitute Level 1 evidence for a specific management protocol.
Veterans represent a high-risk population for auditory processing difficulties, and these cases underscore the need for specialized assessment protocols beyond standard audiometry in this group.
- 01Presents cases of veterans with significant hearing complaints but near-normal audiograms.
- 02Focuses on auditory processing disorder (APD) assessment and management strategies.
- 03Published in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
- 04Highlights gap between subjective hearing difficulty and objective audiometric measures.
- 05Relevant to VA audiology clinics and any practice serving veteran populations.
Veterans can experience significant hearing difficulties despite minimal measurable hearing loss on standard tests.
studysupportedSpecialized auditory processing assessment and management strategies are beneficial for veterans with this presentation.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42372719
- DOI
- 10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00862.
- Journal
- Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
- Publication type
- case_report
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Veterans reporting significant hearing difficulties with minimal measurable hearing loss
- Intervention
- Auditory processing assessment and management
Primary outcomes
Auditory processing assessment outcomes; Management strategy effectiveness for veterans with APD