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Category: Project

Description: Importance: Accurate assessment of hearing is critically important regardless of a person’s cognitive ability. The degree to which hearing can be reliably measured in adults with mild dementia has not been determined. Objective: Obtain quantitative measures of reliability to evaluate the degree to which audiological testing can be accurately conducted in older adults with mild dementia. Design: This repeated measures study consisted of a comprehensive audiological assessment on two occasions separated by 1-2 weeks. Setting: The study was performed in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Washington University School of Medicine from December 2018 to March 2020. Participants: Participants were older adults (M = 74.8 years, SD = 6.0, Range = 53-87) with (n = 15) and without (n = 32) a verified diagnosis of mild dementia who were recruited from the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis. Main outcomes and measures: Test-retest reliability was assessed for tympanometry, acoustic reflex thresholds, otoacoustic emissions, hearing sensitivity, speech reception in quiet, speech perception in noise, and hearing handicap, using standard clinical audiology measures. Results: For participants with mild dementia, high test-retest reliability (Spearman rho values > .80) was found for the majority of measures typically included in a comprehensive audiometric evaluation. The exception to this was tympanogram peak pressure (rs = .64) which was slightly less reliable. Conclusions and relevance: Test-retest reliability for hearing measures obtained from participants with mild dementia was comparable to that obtained from cognitively normal participants. These findings suggest that a mild cognitive impairment does not preclude accurate audiological assessment.