Table 3 Summary of the number of more common measurement methods used to assess treatment outcomes in each domain category from the Dodd et al. [90] taxonomy. Only items where there were more than 10 reports of the outcome domain (Additional file 9) and only those methods reported more than once across the 72 included studies are selected for reporting here. See Additional file 10 for a complete list of instruments
Outcome domains | Investigator administered | Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) | Unclear | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Psychophysical instruments | Objective instruments | Technical and lab measures | Investigator observation / judgement | Numerical rating scale | Multi-item questionnaire | Diary | Unclear | |
Physiological or clinical core area, 6: ear and labyrinth outcomes | ||||||||
Hearing thresholds | 8 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Speech in noise | 47 | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – |
Speech in quiet | 18 | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – |
Speech hearing | 6 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – |
Tinnitus loudness | 1 | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – |
Spatial hearing | 1 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – |
Localisation | 33 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
Quality of hearing | – | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | – | 2 |
Reverberation | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – |
Life impact core area, 30: global quality of life | ||||||||
Tinnitus symptom severity | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | – | – |
Hearing disabilities | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | – | – |
Disease-specific quality of life | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | – | – |
Life impact core area, 32a: delivery of care—satisfaction / patient preference | ||||||||
Device benefit | – | – | – | – | 2 | 8 | – | – |
Device use | – | – | 3 | – | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Satisfaction | – | – | – | – | 2 | 5 | 1 | – |
Aversiveness | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | |
Adverse events core area, 38: adverse events / effects | ||||||||
Adverse effects | – | – | – | 1 | – | 2 | – | 6 |