Repeatability of the TEN(HL) test for detecting cochlear dead regions

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Hearing Science
• Otoacoustic Emissions

Background:

• Cochlear dead regions are areas of the cochlea with no functioning hair cells, impacting hearing aid fitting.
• The Test of Echo Nucleus in Hearing Level (TEN(HL)) test is used to identify these regions.
• Understanding the test-retest repeatability of TEN(HL) is crucial for its clinical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the short-term test-retest repeatability of the TEN(HL) test.
• To assess the consistency of TEN(HL) results in teenagers and adults with different hearing loss levels.

Main Methods:

• Fifteen teenagers (severe-to-profound hearing impairment) and 20 adults (moderate-to-severe hearing impairment) participated.
• The TEN(HL) test was administered twice to each participant within a five-day interval.
• Results were analyzed for changes in cochlear dead region classification between the two tests.

Main Results:

• Overall, a low percentage of ears changed category between tests (8% for teenagers, 7.5% for adults).
• Frequency-specific changes were minimal, with less than 5% of ears changing category, except at 1.5 and 4 kHz.
• Most category changes occurred when results narrowly met dead-region criteria at isolated frequencies.

Conclusions:

• The TEN(HL) test demonstrates good short-term test-retest repeatability in both younger and older hearing-impaired populations.
• The findings support the reliability of the TEN(HL) test for identifying cochlear dead regions.
• An immediate retest is recommended for borderline cases or those with isolated frequency changes to confirm results.