Best practice clinical pathway for diagnosis

Consensus Statement 2:
Detection of hearing loss in adults is important; pure tone audiometry screening methods are considered the most effective. The addition of a questionnaire or interview to the screening can improve the detection of sensorineural hearing loss.

Consensus Statement 3:
Preferred aided speech recognition tests for cochlear implant candidacy in adults include monosyllabic word tests and sentence tests, conducted in quiet and noise. Further standardisation of speech recognition tests is needed to facilitate comparison of outcomes across studies and countries.

Consensus Statement 4:
Age alone should not be a limiting factor to cochlear implant candidacy, as positive speech recognition and quality of life outcomes are experienced by older adults as well as younger adults.

Delphi panel member Assistant Professor Meredith A. Holcomb AuD., Director of Cochlear Implants University of Miami and Chair of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance (ACIA) discusses the statements included in the category.

Assistant Professor Cathy Birman, ENT Surgeon, Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre, Sydney, Australia presenting on ‘When hearing aids are not enough’ at APSCI 2019.