미국의학협회 청력장애 평가기준 변화

초록

Evaluating the degree of hearing impairment is a very difficult problem for otologists and there are many discrepancies in the methods and criteria of assessment of hearing impairment. Guidelines proposed by the American Medical Association (AMA) provide useful criteria for assessing the degree of hearing disability. The purposes of this study were to review and indentify changes of hearing impairment evaluation in AMA criteria. We compared the 1st edition to the 6th edition AMA guidelines for evaluation of hearing impairment including evaluation methods and calibration, tinnitus, frequency, monaural hearing impairment, binaural hearing impairment, and whole body impairment. Evaluation methods and calibration of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) have changed. Average of the hearing used 500, 1,000 and 2,000 Hz in the 1st edition. Average of the hearing used 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 Hz in the 2nd edition to 6th edition. From the 4th edition onward, 5% was added to the binaural hearing impairment test for testing the presence of tinnitus that severely affects activities of daily life. Monaural hearing impairment, binaural hearing impairment, and whole body impairment were changed by ANSI and used 3,000 Hz for the pure tone average from the 2nd edition to 6th edition. Guidelines by the AMA provide objective and practical methods for measuring hearing impairment. Otologists should be familiar with these guidelines.

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