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Screening for hearing loss during a physical examination has obvious limitations. These researchers assessed the accuracy of five bedside hearing tests among 107 adults (mean age, 66). A single neurologist conducted the examinations.
On pure-tone audiometry (the standard for comparison), 52 people had hearing loss, which was most commonly high frequency and bilateral. Among the 34 people who had at least moderate hearing loss (>40 dB at one or more frequencies), bedside test performance was as follows:
Finger rub (6 inches from the ear): sensitivity 35%, specificity 97%
Watch tick (6 inches from the ear): sensitivity 60%, specificity 99%
Whispered speech (2 feet from the ear): sensitivity 46%, specificity 78%
Rinne test: sensitivity N/A, specifi…