Response to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s Draft Recommendation Statement and Draft Evidence Review: Screening for Hearing Loss in Older Adults
Description
The American Academy of Audiology acknowledges the draft recommendation statement “Hearing Loss in Older Adults: Screening” by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) (2020) and agrees with the ultimate conclusion that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for hearing loss in older adults. While it is disappointing that the USPSTF reaffirms that the necessity of hearing screening in older adults is inconclusive, the American Academy of Audiology understands that this conclusion is drawn from a strict review of the state of the current science.
Key Points
The American Academy of Audiology feels that, as a leading organization that supports professionals in the field of hearing-health care, an important goal of our members is to support closing the knowledge gaps that contributed to the current “inconclusive” findings of the USPSTF’s evidence review. It is important to the mission of the American Academy of Audiology that the USPSTF has the information necessary to make a conclusive statement on hearing screening for older adults in the future. It is incumbent upon the profession to produce the documentation, or sufficient evidence to meet the stringent criteria of the USPSTF, to validate our extensive clinical findings of the benefits of screening.
Get Involved
Whether serving on a clinical document development panel or participating as peer reviewers, volunteers have regular chances to deepen their engagement with the Academy and make important contributions benefiting the field of audiology. If you are interested in clinical document development, please volunteer to express interest and submit a CV to the Academy’s guidelines staff by email.
To view the list of guidelines and strategic documents in development and to learn more about the Academy’s clinical document development process, visit the Academy’s Practice Resources website. Information from interested members is accepted on an ongoing basis, and members will be contacted as clinical document volunteer openings occur.
