caa a22 4500 606182683 CHVBK 20210128100817.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00405-014-3211-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00405-014-3211-3 Are subjective assessments of snoring sounds reliable? [Elektronische Daten] [Christian Rohrmeier, René Fischer, Anne-Kathrin Merz, Tobias Ettl, Michael Herzog, Thomas Kuehnel] The aim of this study is to investigate whether snoring sounds can be reliably, i.e. reproducibly and comparably, assessed by the listener. This is an absolute prerequisite if an objective method is to provide a valid representation of subjective assessments of snoring sounds. Fifty-three subjects, both men and women, from different age categories assessed snoring sequences in terms of their annoyance level. This was done using a paired comparison model with ten sequences, once at original volume and once at adjusted peak level. In addition, assessments of 50 sequences were made using a visual analog scale (VAS). In the first paired comparison the assessments displayed very high consistency (K=0.94) and high concordance (W=0.83). The results showed very good agreement between the sexes (r s=0.98), between different levels of snoring-related experience (r s=0.99) and between different ages (r s=0.98). At adjusted peak level there was also very high consistency (K=0.91) although concordance was clearly lower (W=0.50). The rankings in the two paired comparisons showed a high degree of correlation (r s=0.81). The assessments on the VAS revealed good inter-rater reliability (α=0.73) and a high degree of correlation with the result of the first paired comparison (r s=0.93). Snoring sounds can be assessed in a reproducible and comparable manner in terms of their annoyance level. There are no gender-specific differences, and age-specific and experience-specific differences also appear to be negligible. While volume plays a dominant role, other characteristics of the sounds are also sufficient to permit an assessment. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 Snoring nationallicence Assessment nationallicence Subjective nationallicence Paired comparison nationallicence Visual analog scale nationallicence Rohrmeier Christian Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut Fischer René Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut Merz Anne-Kathrin Centre for Teaching, Medical Faculty, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut Ettl Tobias Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut Herzog Michael Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Halle-Wittenberg, Ernst-Grube-Strasse 40, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany aut Kuehnel Thomas Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Springer Berlin Heidelberg 272/1(2015-01-01), 233-240 0937-4477 272:1<233 2015 272 405 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-3211-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-3211-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Rohrmeier Christian Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Fischer René Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Merz Anne-Kathrin Centre for Teaching, Medical Faculty, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ettl Tobias Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Herzog Michael Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Halle-Wittenberg, Ernst-Grube-Strasse 40, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kuehnel Thomas Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Regensburg, 93042, Regensburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Springer Berlin Heidelberg 272/1(2015-01-01), 233-240 0937-4477 272:1<233 2015 272 405