Accuracy of a 40 dB HL Audioscope and audiometer screening for adults.

This study determined the accuracy of an AudioScope (AS) and pure-tone audiometer (PTA) screening at 40 dB HL from 500 to 4000 Hz in reference to a pure-tone threshold (PTT) test on 1210 ears of adult subjects 20 to 96 yr old. The overall results (averaged over age group and frequency) indicated that the AS and PTA screenings were equally accurate in reference to the PTT test. Averaged over the screening tests, the sensitivity was 91.4% with a false negative rate of 8.6% and the specificity was 93.5% with a false positive rate of 6.5%. As a function of age (averaged over frequency), the AS and PTA screenings had similar accuracy and decreased as age increased to about 60 yr old and then remained stable. As a function of frequency (averaged over age), each screening test had similar accuracy for each frequency. It was concluded that the results of a 40 dB HL AS or PTA screening are very accurate in reference to a PTT test.