The ICF Core Sets for hearing loss – researcher perspective. Part I: Systematic review of outcome measures identified in audiological research

Abstract

Objective: To review the literature in order to identify outcome measures used in research on adults with hearing loss (HL) as part of the ICF Core Sets development project, and to describe study and population characteristics of the reviewed studies. Design: A systematic review methodology was applied using multiple databases. A comprehensive search was conducted and two search pools were created, pool I and pool II. Study sample: The study population included adults (≥ 18 years of age) with HL and oral language as the primary mode of communication. Results: 122 studies were included. Outcome measures were distinguished by ‘instrument type’, and 10 types were identified. In total, 246 (pool I) and 122 (pool II) different measures were identified, and only approximately 20% were extracted twice or more. Most measures were related to speech recognition. Fifty-one different questionnaires were identified. Many studies used small sample sizes, and the sex of participants was not revealed in several studies. Conclusion: The low prevalence of identified measures reflects a lack of consensus regarding the optimal outcome measures to use in audiology. Reflections and discussions are made in relation to small sample sizes and the lack of sex differentiation/descriptions within the included articles.

Key Words::

• Hearing loss
• audiology
• ICF
• ICF core sets
• outcome assessment
• systematic literature review

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank research librarian Margareta Landin at the Medical library at Örebro University Hospital for her help with the database search, Hanna Hagsten and Jonas Karlsson for their assistance on data management, Kathy Pichora-Fuller, De Wet Swanepoel, and Stephen Widén for their comments on the manuscript, Alarcos Cieza, Heinrich Gall, and Melissa Selb from the ICF Research Branch (a cooperation partner within the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Family of International Classifications in Germany [at DIMDI]), and the following members of the ICF Core Sets for HL steering committee: Jean-Pierre Gagné, Louise Hickson, Sophia Kramer, Bradley McPherson, Jan Peter Strömgren, and Gerold Stucki.

Declaration of interest: The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper. The authors report no declarations of interest.

This work was funded by grants from the Oticon Foundation and the Stinger Foundation