02298caa a2200229 4500 210629s9999 xx 000 0 und d 2582-4961 Ajish K. Abraham Effect of Ambient Noise on Pure Tone Hearing Screening Test Conducted in Indian Rural Locations 2016 All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Manasagangothri, Mysore, 570 006 ajish68@aiishmysore.in 58-65 Volume 35 Pure tone hearing screening test is the most widely used method for detecting hearing impairment. To avoid false positive results, the test needs to be conducted in a quiet environment with ambient noise levels lesser than the maximum permissible noise levels specied by ANSI. Such an environment is not available in the rural areas of India. As per census 2011, 49% of the persons with hearing impairment in India live in rural areas, which emphasize the need to conduct hearing screening in rural locations. No attempts have been made yet to document the ambient noise levels in these rural locations and to nd out how these noise levels in uence the test results. The present study was an eort to measure the ambient noise levels in three of such locations and to nd the eect of these noise levels on the outcome of the hearing screening test conducted on 15 participants at each of these locations. The selected locations were found to have average ambient noise levels of 58.3, 60.1 and 64.8 dBSPL, which were higher than the ambient noise levels reported in the previous studies. Results showed very low specicity at 500Hz test frequency at all the three locations when the pass criterion was 25 dBHL while it was 80% when the pass criterion was 30 dBHL. 100% specicity was observed at all other test frequencies, at all the three locations. Outcome of the study will help to precisely organize hearing screening programs in Indian rural areas. Hearing screening, Indian rural location, Pass criteria, Ambient noise, Screening test specificity Chandni Jain Yashaswini, L Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing http://192.168.102.7/jaiish/index.php/aiish/article/view/926/603 FJAS FJAS 17959 17959