Hidden Hearing Loss - Revisiting the Limits of Audiometric Diagnosis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51985/JBUMDC2025607Abstract
Hearing loss has traditionally been identified and managed on the basis of audiometric thresholds, with clinicians relying on pure-tone audiograms as the gold standard.1 However, a growing research has revealed a perplexing phenomenon where individual reports significant hearing difficulty, particularly in noisy environments, despite having normal audiogram.2,3,4
References
1. Walker JJ, Cleveland LM, Davis JL, Seales JS. Audiometry
screening and interpretation. Am Fam Physician. 2013; 87(1):
41-7.
2. Bajin MD, Dahm V, Lin VYW. Hidden hearing loss: current
concepts. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2022;
30(5): 321-325. doi: 10.1097/MOO.0000000000000824.
3. Bharadwaj HM, Masud S, Mehraei G, Verhulst S, ShinnCunningham BG. Individual differences reveal correlates of
hidden hearing deficits. J Neurosci. 2015; 35(5): 2161-72.
doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3915-14.2015.
4. Shenoy S, Bhatt K, Yazdani Y, Rahimian H, Djalilian HR,
Abouzari M. A Systematic Review: State of the Science on
Diagnostics of Hidden Hearing Loss. Diagnostics. 2025;
15(6):742. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15060742
5. Liu J, Stohl J, Overath T. Hidden hearing loss: Fifteen years
at a glance. Hear Res. 2024; 443: 108967. doi: 10.1016/j.heares
.2024.108967.
6. Kujawa SG, Liberman MC. Adding insult to injury: cochlear
nerve degeneration after "temporary" noise-induced hearing
loss. J Neurosci. 2009; 29(45): 14077-85. doi: 10.1523/
JNEUROSCI.2845-09.2009.
7. Valderrama JT, de la Torre A, McAlpine D. The hunt for
hidden hearing loss in humans: From preclinical studies to
effective interventions. Front Neurosci. 2022; 16: 1000304.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1000304
8. Liberman MC, Epstein MJ, Cleveland SS, Wang H, Maison
SF. Toward a Differential Diagnosis of Hidden Hearing Loss
in Humans. PLoS One. 2016; 11(9): e0162726. doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0162726
9. Parthasarathy A, Hancock KE, Bennett K, DeGruttola V,
Polley DB. Bottom-up and top-down neural signatures of
disordered multi-talker speech perception in adults with normal
hearing. Elife. 2020; 9: e51419. doi: 10.7554/eLife.51419.
10. Udaipurwala, I. H. Noise-Induced Hearing Loss and Tinnitus
in the Digital Era: An Alarming Rise in the Younger Generation.
Journal of Bahria University Medical and Dental College.
2025; 15(01), 01–02. https://doi.org/10.51985/ JBUMDC
2024451
11. Kara E, Aydýn K, Akbulut AA, Karakol SN, Durmaz S, Yener
HM, Gözen ED, Kara H. Assessment of Hidden Hearing Loss
in Normal Hearing Individuals with and Without Tinnitus. J
Int Adv Otol. 2020; 16(1): 87-92. doi: 10.5152/iao.2020.7062
12. Tepe V, Smalt C, Nelson J, Quatieri T, Pitts K. Hidden Hearing
Injury: The Emerging Science and Military Relevance of
Cochlear Synaptopathy, Military Medicine. 2017; 182(9):
e1785–e1795. doi: https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-17-
00025
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Journal of Bahria University Medical & Dental College is an open access journal and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. which permits unrestricted non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
