Prior work shows that individuals who frequently experience symptoms following noise exposure have greater hearing complaints and worse tone-in-noise detection abilities even with "normal" audiometric thresholds. This study extends previous work by quantifying the impact of post-exposure hearing symptoms on speech-in-noise (SIN) detection. Intelligibility and response times were examined in two large samples of U.S....
Audiologists should consider supplementing standard audiograms with speech-in-noise testing for patients reporting noise-exposure symptoms, as normal thresholds alone may miss clinically meaningful hearing dysfunction consistent with cochlear synaptopathy (hidden hearing loss).
This study strengthens the case that audiometrically normal individuals with a noise-exposure history have measurable hearing deficits, reinforcing the clinical and public health relevance of so-called 'hidden hearing loss' and cochlear synaptopathy.
- 01Participants with prior noise-exposure symptoms showed significantly impaired speech-in-noise perception versus controls.
- 02All affected participants had clinically normal audiometric thresholds (standard hearing test results within normal limits).
- 03Published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), a high-profile peer-reviewed journal.
- 04Supports the 'hidden hearing loss' / cochlear synaptopathy hypothesis in humans.
- 05Findings suggest standard audiograms are insufficient to capture the full scope of noise-induced hearing damage.
Individuals with a history of hearing symptoms after noise exposure have impaired speech-in-noise perception despite normal audiometric thresholds.
studysupportedStandard audiometric testing does not detect all functionally significant hearing damage caused by noise exposure.
studysupported- PMID
- 42466837
- DOI
- 10.1121/10.0044269.
- Journal
- Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Adults with a history of hearing symptoms following noise exposure and audiometrically normal thresholds
- Intervention
- Speech-in-noise perception testing in individuals with noise-exposure symptom history
- Comparator
- Audiometrically normal individuals without noise-exposure symptom history
Primary outcomes
Speech-in-noise perception performance; Comparison of performance relative to audiometric threshold status