Pure-Tone Threshold Testing Detects Hearing Loss More Often Than School-Based “Rapid” Screens

School-based hearing screening is usually “rapid” and focuses on frequencies that are important for speech perception. Pure-tone threshold testing, which can detect high-frequency hearing loss (HFHL), typically is not provided, even though HFHL is linked with noise exposure and was reported in 16% of adolescents in a 2005 national survey. To compare results of the two tests, researchers administered rapid hearing screening (250–4000 Hz frequencies), pure-tone threshold testing (500–8000 Hz), and a noise-exposure survey to 296 students in a Pennsylvania school. For both hearing tests, failure was defined as missing two or more 25-dB tones in at least one ear at any frequency.

Five percent of students failed rapid hearing screening, and 26% fa…