Repeatability of the TEN(HL) test for detecting cochlear dead regions.

The aim of this study was to investigate the short-term test-retest repeatability of the TEN(HL) test. Participants comprised 15 teenagers (mean age 14 years) with long-standing severe-to-profound hearing impairment, and 20 adults (mean age 74 years) with moderate-to-severe hearing impairment. Testing was repeated using the same equipment and procedures, after an interval of less than five days. The number of ears that met the criteria for diagnosing a cochlear dead region on initial test was three (13%) and nine (22.5%) for the teenagers and adults, respectively. Overall, the number of ears that changed category on retest was two (8%) and three (7.5%) for the teenagers and adults, respectively. Except at 1.5 and 4 kHz, the number of ears that changed category at individual frequencies was less than 5% for both groups of participants. TEN(HL) test repeatability was good when the results were categorized by ear or by frequency. The majority of ears that changed category on retest just met the dead-region criteria at an isolated frequency. An immediate retest is advisable in such cases.