The spatial hearing disability measured by the Spatial Hearing Questionnaire in clinically normal-hearing and in mild or moderate sensorineural hearing loss persons

The spatial hearing in patients with mild and moderate symmetrical chronic sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) was studied using the Russian-language version of the Spatial hearing questionnaire (SHQ). 141 patients aged 47 to 82 years were examined. The comparative analysis was performed in the groups of age-related normal hearing, mild SNHL, moderate SNHL. A significant deterioration in spatial perception was shown, revealed by the results of the survey in both groups with SNHL, and the mild and moderate hearing loss groups significantly differed in some indicators. The deterioration of spatial perception revealed by the analysis of the subscales of the questionnaire and the quantitative estimates of spatial and temporal resolution obtained earlier with mild and moderate degrees SNHL were in good agreement. With moderate SNHL, the scores of all four subscales of the questionnaire were significantly reduced. In clinical practice, this questionnaire can be used as a screening method for assessing spatial hearing in patients with SNHL.