A comparison of self recording audiometry in naval establishments and clinical audiometry in a hospital setting

Following the introduction of self-recording audiometers into regular use in non-hospital Royal Naval medical facilities, there has been an increase in the rate of detection of hearing losses and consequent referral for formal audiometry and ENT evaluation at Naval Hospitals. Forty-two sets of audiograms have been examined and the hearing thresholds obtained by the two methods compared. The value of self-recording audiometry even in the often imperfect audiometric conditions available in a Naval sick bay has been confirmed and the midpoint of the tracing established as a reliable indicator of the hearing threshold.