Toward a standard description of hearing loss.

Hearing losses are frequently described by categories that characterize the configuration, severity, and site of lesion from a pure-tone audiogram. Although many category descriptors are in common use, there are no standard definitions of those terms, nor have the category definitions been validated against current clinical practice. The development and validation of AMCLASStrade mark is described. To validate the classification method, five expert judges selected configuration, severity, and site of lesion categories for 231 audiograms that varied widely in audiometric configuration. Interjudge comparisons indicated that expert judges frequently disagree on how they describe an audiogram. Category definitions were adjusted to maximize agreement between AMCLASStrade mark and the consensus of the judges. The final set of category definitions produced categories that agreed with the consensus more often than the average agreement between pairs of judges.