Testing the informativeness of diverse measures of auditory processing for clinical audiological practice in middle-aged adults in Mexico

Purpose: Standard clinical audiologic assessment is limited in its ability to capture variance in self-reported hearing difficulty. Additionally, the costs associated with clinical testing in audiology create financial barriers for hearing healthcare in developing countries like Mexico. This study used an open-source Spanish-language tool called PART to test the hypothesis that a battery of assessments of auditory processing can complement standard clinical audiological assessment to better capture the variance of self-reported hearing difficulty. Method: Forty-three adults between 40 and 69 years of age were tested in Mexico City using a traditional clinical pure tone audiogram, cognitive screening, and a battery of PART-based auditory processing assessments including a speech-on-speech competition spatial release from masking task. Results were compared to self-reported hearing difficulty, assessed with a Spanish-language adaptation of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE-S). Results: Several measures from the PART battery exhibited stronger correlations with self-reported hearing difficulties than the pure tone audiogram. The spatial release from masking task best captured variance in HHIE-S scores and remained significant after controlling for the effects of age, audibility, and cognitive score. Conclusion: The spatial release from masking task can complement traditional clinical measures to better account for patient’s self-reported hearing difficulty. Open-source access to this test in PART supports its implementation for Spanish-speakers in clinical settings around the world at low cost.