The relationship between self-reported difficulty with hearing in the worse ear and the better ear.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the relationship of self-reported hearing difficulty with hearing in the worse ear and the better ear at 1 and 4 kHz.

DESIGN

Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis in community-residing population.

SETTINGS

The Settsu City Health Center (Osaka, Japan).

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 919 consecutive participants who were provided health check-ups.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES

Comparison is based on the measurement of the area under the curve (AUC) of ROC.

RESULTS

At 1 kHz, the area under the curve (AUC) of the worse ear (0.625 +/- 0.021) was significantly larger than that of the better ear (0.570 +/- 0.021) (P < 0.01). At 4 kHz, the AUC of the worse ear (0.665 +/- 0.019) was significantly larger than that of the better ear (0.622 +/- 0.020) (P < 0.01). Excluding the subjects with noise exposure, tinnitus and ear disease, at both frequencies, the AUC of the worse ear was not significantly larger than that of the better ear at both 1 and 4 kHz. Hearing in the worse ear was significantly more related to self-reported hearing difficulty than in the better ear without excluding those with noise exposure, tinnitus and ear disease.

CONCLUSIONS

ROC curve analysis would provide a method to help us judge the difference between the worse hearing ear and the better hearing ear on the subject of hearing loss.