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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Neuro-rehabilitation Approach for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Published on: January 25, 2016
The relationship between self-reported difficulty with hearing in the worse ear and the better ear
M Okamoto1, N Nakanishi, K Tatara
1Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Course of Social Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamada-oka, Suita-shi, Osaka, Japan. okamotom@pbhel.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
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.
