SLP Hearing and Aural Rehabilitation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient reports constant high-pitched ringing in both ears without any measurable hearing loss. Which term best describes this condition?
- Hyperacusis
- Diplacusis
- Tinnitus (Correct answer)
- Recruitment
Correct answer: Tinnitus
Tinnitus is the perception of sound (such as ringing) in the absence of an external acoustic source, and can occur with or without measurable hearing loss.
Question 2: Which aural rehabilitation approach specifically uses a formal needs assessment and involves the patient setting their own rehabilitation goals?
- Client-Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI) (Correct answer)
- Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE)
- Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (PHAB)
- International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA)
Correct answer: Client-Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI)
The COSI is a patient-centered outcome measure where clients nominate specific situations they want to improve, making their goals the focus of rehabilitation.
Question 3: An SLP is working with an adult cochlear implant user on auditory training. Which hierarchy of auditory skill development proceeds from easiest to most difficult?
- Identification → Detection → Discrimination → Comprehension
- Detection → Discrimination → Identification → Comprehension (Correct answer)
- Comprehension → Identification → Discrimination → Detection
- Discrimination → Detection → Comprehension → Identification
Correct answer: Detection → Discrimination → Identification → Comprehension
The standard auditory skill hierarchy progresses from Detection (awareness of sound) → Discrimination → Identification → Comprehension as complexity increases.
Question 4: A score of 25 dB HL on a pure-tone average (PTA) falls into which hearing loss category according to ASHA guidelines?
- Normal hearing
- Slight/minimal hearing loss (Correct answer)
- Mild hearing loss
- Moderate hearing loss
Correct answer: Slight/minimal hearing loss
A PTA of 16-25 dB HL is classified as slight or minimal hearing loss, which may still affect speech perception in noise.
Question 5: Which measure is used to assess the real-ear gain of a hearing aid and verify that it meets a prescribed target?
- Functional gain measurement
- Real-ear aided response (REAR) (Correct answer)
- Speech Intelligibility Index (SII)
- Listening in Spatialized Noise (LiSN-S)
Correct answer: Real-ear aided response (REAR)
Real-ear aided response (REAR) is obtained via probe microphone measurement to verify hearing aid output in the patient's own ear canal.
Question 6: An elderly patient scores significantly worse on speech recognition in noise compared to quiet, beyond what would be predicted by their audiogram. This pattern is most consistent with which condition?
- Conductive hearing loss
- Age-related central auditory processing decline (Correct answer)
- Otosclerosis
- Noise-induced hearing loss restricted to 4000 Hz
Correct answer: Age-related central auditory processing decline
Age-related changes in central auditory processing reduce the ability to use temporal and spectral cues in noise, causing performance worse than audiometric thresholds predict.
Question 7: In pediatric aural rehabilitation, the Ling 6-Sound Test is used primarily to assess what?
- The child's word recognition ability at threshold
- Detection of the full range of speech frequencies through a hearing device (Correct answer)
- The child's ability to discriminate between phonemes in minimal pairs
- Auditory memory span for sentences
Correct answer: Detection of the full range of speech frequencies through a hearing device
The Ling 6-Sound Test uses /m/, /ah/, /oo/, /ee/, /sh/, and /s/ to quickly check whether a child can detect sounds across the speech frequency range through their amplification device.
SLP Hearing and Aural Rehabilitation 3
A patient reports constant high-pitched ringing in both ears without any measurable hearing loss.
Which term best describes this condition?