A Spanish matrix sentence test for assessing speech reception thresholds in noise

Abstract

Objective: To develop, optimize, and evaluate a new Spanish sentence test in noise. Design: The test comprises a basic matrix of ten names, verbs, numerals, nouns, and adjectives. From this matrix, test lists of ten sentences with an equal syntactical structure can be formed at random, with each list containing the whole speech material. The speech material represents the phoneme distribution of the Spanish language. The test was optimized for measuring speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise by adjusting the presentation levels of the individual words. Subsequently, the test was evaluated by independent measurements investigating the training effects, the comparability of test lists, open-set vs. closed-set test format, and performance of listeners of different Spanish varieties. Study sample: In total, 68 normal-hearing native Spanish-speaking listeners. Results: SRTs measured using an adaptive procedure were 6.2 ± 0.8 dB SNR for the open-set and 7.2 ± 0.7 dB SNR for the closed-set test format. The residual training effect was less than 1 dB after using two double-lists before data collection. Conclusions: No significant differences were found for listeners of different Spanish varieties indicating that the test is applicable to Spanish as well as Latin American listeners. Test lists can be used interchangeably.

Key Words::

• Speech recognition
• speech reception threshold (SRT)
• Spanish sentence test in noise
• matrix test

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European regional development fund (ERDF), Project: HurDig. We thank the speaker Ruth García Galán and Pilar Pereira for their support with the test material. Special thanks go to José Juan Barajas de Prat from the Clínica Barajas (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and to Victoria Marrero from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Madrid) for their support during the evaluation measurements. Parts of this work were presented at the Midwinter Research Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology in Anaheim 2010, at the International Congress of Audiology in São Paulo 2010, and at the ‘Congreso de la Asociación Española de Audiología’ in Badajoz 2011.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.