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AUDIOLOGIC QUIZ CASE
Deborah Hayes, PhD, Houston
A 57-year-old woman was evaluated by the Audiology Service, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, for bilateral hearing loss. She reported a gradual progression of the loss over a one-year period. She also reported that hearing in her right ear was poorer than in her left ear.Results of pure-tone audiometry are shown in Fig 1. Both ears showed a mild sensorineural loss. The audiometric configuration was relatively flat. Sensitivity in the left ear was slightly better than in the right ear, but the average difference was less than 2 dB over the range of 500 to 2,000 Hz.Impedance audiometry showed normal middle ear function bilaterally. Tympanograms were type A. All ipsilateral and contralateral acoustic reflexes were present at normal levels. The reflex decay test was negative in both ears.Results of speech audiometry are shown in Fig 2. Performance-intensity functions for monosyllabic, phonemically