Pilotmessungen für eine bevölkerungsbasierte Studie zur Erhebung des Hörstatus

Surveys are crucial for obtaining precise information about hearing abilities in the general population. Building on the HÖRSTAT study (von Gablenz et al. 2015), which was conducted in 2010–2012 in northwest Germany, another large hearing study with adults is being planned. This study aims to combine established test procedures with promising yet less used procedures to provide a more accurate description of hearing abilities more representative of everyday life. The feasibility of the study program was tested in a pilot study with 10 young people, aged between 18 and 25 years, and with normal hearing. The measurements of the pilot study included a determination of the pure-tone hearing thresholds for air conduction in the clinical frequency range (250 Hz–8 kHz) and in the high-frequency range (9–12.5 kHz) as well as for bone conduction (0.5–4 kHz). As a screening test, the digits-in-noise test (DIN) (van den Borre et al. 2021) was performed both side-separated and antiphasically. For the measurements of speech recognition, the Göttingen sentence test (Kollmeier et al. 1997) was carried out with monaural presentation in stationary noise, binaural-antiphasic in stationary noise, and binaural-diotic in fluctuating noise. In addition, a test for spectro-temporal modulation was added. Two cognitive tests were used to assess processing speed and crystallized intelligence. Furthermore, a standardized interview questionnaire with questions on sociodemographics, hearing health and noise exposure as well as a questionnaire on hearing in everyday situations was used. This contribution presents the results of the pilot study.