DPOAEs are a useful screening tool for ototoxicity in adults with pre-exposure hearing loss, but are less sensitive compared with a behavioral test method that targets thresholds near the upper limit of a subject's audible frequency range. Ears successfully monitored for ototoxicity with DPOAEs are those with better pre-exposure hearing, greater postexposure hearing changes, and baseline DPOAEs near the highest behavioral test frequencies and present at high f2's. Results suggest that successful monitoring of ototoxicity with DPOAEs may be predicted clinically by assessing the measurable DPOAE f2 frequency range and its relation to the highest behavioral test frequencies.

Perceived benefit, satisfaction, and hearing aid use patterns were measured in a follow-up study to a large-scale multi-site clinical trial conducted in 1996-97. Measures included the Hearing Aid Status Questionnaire, the Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, the Glasgow Hearing Aid Benefit Profile, the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life, and the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids. On the Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, hearing aid users indicated more unaided difficulty in easy listening situations and less aided benefit in more difficult listening situations compared to the original study. Subjects who no longer used hearing aids indicated less difficulty in unaided situations. All measures indicated significant long-term subjective benefit and satisfaction with hearing aids. Although understanding speech in noise or in group situations continues to be problematic, subjects reported wearing their hearing aids almost all of the time in both easy and difficult listening situations.

Each circuit provided significant benefit in quiet and noisy listening situations. The CL and WDRC circuits appeared to provide superior benefits compared with the PC, although the differences between them were much less than the differences between the aided vs unaided conditions. JAMA. 2000;284:1806-1813.

HHT air-conduction audiograms agree well with audiograms obtained in the clinic. HHT is well suited to home telehealth applications and personal use.