Banh Jessica, Singh Gurjit, Pichora-Fuller M Kathleen
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
J Am Acad Audiol. 2012 Feb;23(2):81-91; quiz 139-40. doi: 10.3766/jaaa.23.2.2.
Age-related declines in auditory and cognitive processing may contribute to the difficulties with listening in noise that are often reported by older adults. Such difficulties are reported even by those who have relatively good audiograms that could be considered "normal" for their age (ISO 7029-2000 [ISO, 2000]). The Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ; Gatehouse and Noble, 2004) is a questionnaire developed to measure a listener's self-reported ability to hear in a variety of everyday situations, such as those that are challenging for older adults, and it can provide insights into the possible contributions of auditory and cognitive factors to their listening difficulties. The SSQ has been shown to be a sensitive and reliable questionnaire to detect benefits associated with the use of different hearing technologies and potentially other forms of intervention. Establishing how age-matched listeners with audiograms "normal" for their age rate the items on the SSQ could enable an extension of its use in audiological assessment and in setting rehabilitative goals.
The main purpose of this study was to investigate how younger and older adults who passed audiometric screening and who had thresholds considered to be "normal" for their age responded on the SSQ. It was also of interest to compare these results to those reported previously for older listeners with hearing loss in an attempt to tease out the relative effects of age and hearing loss.
The SSQ was administered to 48 younger (mean age = 19 yr; SD = 1.0) and 48 older (mean age = 70 yr, SD = 4.1) adults with clinically normal audiometric thresholds below 4 kHz. The younger adults were recruited through an introductory psychology course, and the older adults were volunteers from the local community.
Both age groups completed the SSQ. The differences between the groups were analyzed. Correlations were used to compare the pattern of results across items for the two age groups in the present study and to assess the relationship between SSQ scores and objective measures of hearing. Comparisons were also made to published results for older adults with hearing loss.
The pattern of reported difficulty across items was similar for both age groups, but younger adults had significantly higher scores than older adults on 42 of the 46 items. On average, younger adults scored 8.8 (SD = 0.6) out of 10 and older adults scored 7.7 (SD = 1.2) out of 10. By comparison, scores of 5.5 (SD = 1.9) have been reported for older adults (mean age = 71 yr, SD = 8.1) with moderate hearing loss (Gatehouse and Noble, 2004).
By establishing the best scores that could reasonably be expected from younger and older adults with "normal" hearing thresholds, these results provide clinicians with information that should assist them in setting realistic targets for interventions for adults of different ages.
与年龄相关的听觉和认知处理能力下降可能导致老年人常报告的噪声环境下听力困难。即使是那些听力图相对较好、在其年龄阶段可被视为“正常”的人（ISO 7029 - 2000 [国际标准化组织，2000年]）也会报告此类困难。言语、空间和听力质量量表（SSQ；盖特豪斯和诺布尔，2004年）是一份问卷，旨在测量听者自我报告的在各种日常情况下的听力能力，比如对老年人具有挑战性的情况，它能深入了解听觉和认知因素对其听力困难可能产生的影响。SSQ已被证明是一种灵敏且可靠的问卷，可用于检测与使用不同听力技术及潜在其他形式干预相关的益处。确定年龄匹配且听力图在其年龄阶段为“正常”的听者如何对SSQ上的项目进行评分，能够扩展其在听力评估及设定康复目标方面的应用。
本研究的主要目的是调查通过听力筛查且听力阈值在其年龄阶段被视为“正常”的年轻人和老年人在SSQ上的反应。将这些结果与之前报告的老年听力损失者的结果进行比较也很有意义，以便梳理出年龄和听力损失的相对影响。
对48名年轻人（平均年龄 = 19岁；标准差 = 1.0）和48名老年人（平均年龄 = 70岁，标准差 = 4.1）进行了SSQ测试，这些人的临床听力阈值在4kHz以下且正常。年轻人通过基础心理学课程招募，老年人是当地社区的志愿者。
两个年龄组都完成了SSQ。分析了两组之间的差异。使用相关性来比较本研究中两个年龄组各项目的结果模式，并评估SSQ分数与听力客观测量指标之间的关系。还与已发表的老年听力损失者的结果进行了比较。
两个年龄组各项目报告的困难模式相似，但在46个项目中的42个项目上，年轻人的得分显著高于老年人。年轻人平均得分为8.8（标准差 = 0.6）（满分10分），老年人平均得分为7.7（标准差 = 1.2）（满分10分）。相比之下，中度听力损失的老年人（平均年龄 = 71岁，标准差 = 8.1）的得分报告为5.5（标准差 = 1.9）（盖特豪斯和诺布尔，2004年）。
通过确定听力阈值“正常”的年轻人和老年人合理预期的最佳分数，这些结果为临床医生提供了信息，应有助于他们为不同年龄的成年人设定现实的干预目标。
