Comparison of self-reported and audiometrically-measured hearing loss in the Australian Defence Force.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between self-reported and audiometrically-measured hearing loss in a sample of Australian Defence Force personnel.

DESIGN

Responses to a question regarding hearing problems were compared with contemporaneous audiometric data.

STUDY SAMPLE

3335 members of the Australian Defence Force for whom anonymised medical records were available.

RESULTS

The sensitivity of self-report data to identify higher-frequency hearing loss was lower than sensitivity at other frequencies, and positive predictive values were moderate to poor at all frequencies. Performance characteristics of self-report compared with audiometric data also varied with age, sex, and rank.

CONCLUSIONS

While self-report hearing loss data have good performance characteristics for estimating prevalence of hearing loss as defined by audiometric criteria, this study indicates that the usefulness of self-report data in identifying individuals with hearing loss may be limited in this population.