Articulation index and hearing handicap

This investigation examined the relationship between perceived hearing handicap and the Articulation Index (AI) and the extent to which this relationship was influenced by the variables age, gender, degree of hearing loss, and audiometric slope. Subject age, gender, pure-tone thresholds, and scores for the Self-Assessment of Communication (SAC) and the Significant Other Assessment of Communication (SOAC) were extracted retrospectively from 373 patient files (194 males, 179 females). Correlation analysis revealed a significant (p < .01) negative relationship between AI values and both measures of hearing handicap, and also indicated that SAC/SOAC total scores correlated significantly (p < .01) with each other. Partial correlation analyses revealed that degree of hearing loss was the only variable under study that had substantial influence on the strength of AI/hearing handicap correlations.