Umsetzung der neuen Qualitätssicherungsvereinbarung zur Hörgeräteversorgung im Praxisalltag: Teil 2 Diagnostische Neuerungen in der Sprachaudiometrie

Upon review of the statutory health insurance reimbursement guidelines, a specific quality assurance questionnaire concerned with the provision of hearing aids was introduced that assesses elements of patient satisfaction within Germany’s public healthcare system. APHAB questionnaire-based patient evaluation of the benefit of hearing aids represents the third pillar of audiological diagnostics, alongside classical pure-tone and speech audiometry. Another new aspect of the national guidelines is inclusion of free-field measurements in noise with and without hearing aids. Part 2 of this review describes new diagnostic aspects of speech audiometry. In addition to adaptive speech audiometry, a proposed method for applying the gold standard of speech audiometry – the Freiburg monosyllabic speech test – in noise is described. Finally, the quality assurance questionnaire will be explained as an appendix to template 15 of the regulations governing hearing aids.