Rationale for the Development of a Universal Hearing Metric for Public Consumption: Initiative 1 of the Hearing Health Collaborative

Objective: Present the rationale for the development of a new, patient-facing vital sign for adult hearing. Study Design: Structured A3 process. Setting: Fourteen virtual meetings and two in-person meetings held between May 2021 and June 2022. Main Outcome Measure(s): Identification and refinement of a countermeasure to develop and imbed a hearing health vital sign for adult hearing. Results: Through a rigorous, structured A3 process, the Hearing Health Collaborative identified and refined the rationale for and the qualities associated with a public-facing vital sign for adult hearing loss. Specifically, such a vital sign must embody five qualities: simple, accessible, stable, inclusive, and meaningful. These qualities together would ensure that a hearing health vital sign would be useful not only as a screening tool but also as an instrument to guide next steps in workup and potentially treatment. Conclusions: Successful identification and implementation of a hearing metric or “vital sign” for the presence of adult hearing loss, using precedent convention of other medical diseases, may help reframe public perceptions surrounding hearing loss, improve awareness and literacy regarding the presence of the disease, and prompt action to seek diagnostic assessment.