Abstract
This investigation examined the relationship between perceived hearing handicap and
the Articulation Index (Al) and the extent to which this relationship was influenced
by the variables age, gender, degree of hearing loss, and audiometric slope. Subject
age, gender, pure-tone thresholds, and scores for the Self-Assessment of Communication
(SAC) and the' Significant Other Assessment of Communication (SOAC) were extracted
retrospectively from 373 patient files (194 males, 179 females). Correlation analysis
revealed a significant (p < .01) negative relationship between AI values and both
measures of hearing handicap, and also indicated that SAC/SOAC total scores correlated
significantly (p > .01) with each other. Partial correlation analyses revealed that
degree of hearing loss was the only variable under study that had substantial influence
on the strength of ΑΙ/hearing handicap correlations.
Abbreviations: Al = Articulation Index, SAC = Self-Assessment of Communication, SOAC = Significant
Other Assessment of Communication
Key Words
Articulation Index - hearing handicap