Self-Assessment, Audiology

The most certain way to ensure that patients’ needs and expectations are being met is to administer relevant self-assessment measures prior to and following intervention. Individuals with essentially identical audiograms can be affected differently by their hearing impairments. In fact, research has repeatedly shown that communication difficulties and people’s reactions to hearing problems vary widely and cannot be predicted from the audiogram. This discrepancy between objective and subjective measures underscores the [Page 1661]shortcomings inherent in basing audiologic intervention solely on the audiogram and provides evidence of the need to identify, assess, and address patients’ individual communication difficulties and needs. It is this subjective perception of difficulties, in fact, that precipitates the decision to seek audiologic intervention. Moreover, the extent to which these perceived difficulties are ...