Some people think they have hearing problems when they do not. On the flip side, other people with measurable hearing loss are often unaware of it. In other words, the correlation between perceived hearing ability and actual hearing ability is not strong. Why does this happen?
We believe that beliefs about hearing ability may be shaped by non-auditory factors, such as a person’s overall health and well-being, their beliefs about age. These variables may influence how a person view’s their hearing, which can differ from the hearing abilities they can perform. It is important to know about differences between perceived and actual hearing ability, because, many scientific studies will make claims about hearing functions and hearing loss from people’s subjective assessments of their own hearing.
Recently, Adachi & Paul report that there is a poor correlation between subjective perceptions of hearing and objective measurements of hearing ability, and that subjective hearing ability could be influenced by levels of psychological distress and social isolation.
Example publications:
Adachi, R. & Paul, B.T. (2024). Comparison of subjective self-reported hearing and objective speech-in-noise perception as predictors of social isolation and loneliness in adults 60 years and older. International Journal of Audiology, 1–9. Online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2024.2442735
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