I performed a hearing evaluation on an adult male with mental retardation. He also had some vision impairments that will hopefully improve after his cataract surgery within the month. Although very consistent with responses, the patient could not be tested using VRA and would he not allow anything near his ears. Warble tones and speech (patient's name) were used through sound field to elicit a response. The patient would respond by quieting or looking for his caregiver. Chronologically the patient was an adult but his cognitive age required the use of BOA. From the results, his hearing was determined to be normal.
In the article by Karikoski et al., the acuity of BOA in predicting hearing loss in children was evaluated. The results concluded that BOA was good for determining if there was a hearing loss or not. However, the degree of loss was not as easy to pinpoint especially for profound losses. In fact, BOA underestimated the loss when the actual loss was severe or profound.
Karikoski JO, Marttila TI, Jauhiainen T. Behavioural observation audiometry in testing young hearing-impaired children. Scand
Audiol 1998;27:183–7.
http://web.ebscohost.com.www.libproxy.wvu.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=1&hid=107&sid=b37f5c0e-0eb7-4fc7-b0d2-1331a6a0513b%40sessionmgr103
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Katie,
It would be interesting to re-test this client after his cataract surgery so see if he would be able to then use the VRA. Even if his cognitive age is only at the BOA level, he might still enjoy the animated toys. Thanks for the article information as well.
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