Correlation between the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery five-minute hearing test and...

The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery recently developed a questionnaire called the "Five-Minute Hearing Test" and distributed it to many primary care physicians. Our literature review suggests that the test characteristics (i.e., sensitivity and specificity) of this screening instrument have not been published. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the test by correlating the "Five-Minute Hearing Test" results to various audiologic results obtained for the same patients and to analyze the test characteristics with pure-tone measures as a standard criterion. An original version of the "Five-Minute Hearing Test" was administered to 70 patients older than 55 years, and a revised version of the test was administered to additional 74 elderly patients. The "Five-Minute Hearing Test" scores in both original and revised versions significantly correlated with all audiologic measures, especially with the pure-tone measures. However, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery's recommended cutoff score for a referral yielded a high false-positive rate. If the cutoff score were changed, the "Five-Minute Hearing Test" would be a reliable hearing screening tool for identification of hearing loss among the elderly population. Specific recommendations include adjustment of the cutoff score to at least 15 and revision of a few selected test items.