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Advancing Meaningful Outcome Measures in Adult Hearing Care
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Topic Description
Post Date: December 8, 2025
Expiration Date: December 8, 2026
Adult hearing care (AHC) currently lacks standard outcome measures that correlate well with an individual’s perception of their loss or the impact to their quality of life. This has made it difficult to determine in a meaningful way which interventions work and for whom. Furthermore, lack of standard outcome measures creates challenges in development of large-scale repositories and data harmonization efforts, leaving the field unable to take full advantage of complex, innovative data tools and systems.
In 2023, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institute on Aging, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to conduct a consensus study examining the state of the science in outcomes research for interventions in AHC (excluding surgically placed prosthetic devices), with an emphasis on clinically meaningful outcome measures. The committee determined core outcome domains and specific measures for hearing research and care that are important across patients, settings (clinic, research), and interventions (e.g., hearing aids, pharmaceuticals, biologics, auditory training). In addition, the committee called for improved psychometric rigor to refine existing measures and for the development of new measures that address current limitations.
The purpose of this highlighted topic is to encourage research that conclusively tackles recommendations in the NASEM consensus report on Measuring Meaningful Outcomes for Adult Hearing Health Interventions, particularly those specific to measurement development and refinement. Measures should be developed with the broadest application possible, with attention to implementation in low-resourced settings. Projects should be innovative, collaborative, and, wherever possible, engage end-users (e.g., practicing clinicians, patients) in real-world environments.
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