Do you hear the noise? The German matrix sentence test with a fixed noise level in subjects with normal hearing and hearing impairment

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between hearing loss and speech reception threshold (SRT) in a fixed noise condition using the German Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA). Design: After training with two easily-audible lists of the OLSA, SRTs were determined monaurally with headphones at a fixed noise level of 65 dB SPL using a standard adaptive procedure, converging to 50% speech intelligibility. Study sample: Data was obtained from 315 ears of 177 subjects with hearing losses ranging from − 5 to 90 dB HL pure-tone average (PTA, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 kHz). Results: Two domains were identified with a linear dependence of SRT on PTA. The SRT increased with a slope of 0.094 ± 0.006 dB SNR/dB HL (standard deviation (SD) of residuals = 1.17 dB) for PTAs < 47 dB HL and with a slope of 0.811 ± 0.049 dB SNR/dB HL (SD of residuals = 5.54 dB) for higher PTAs. Conclusion: The OLSA can be applied to subjects with a wide range of hearing losses. With 65 dB SPL fixed noise presentation level the SRT is determined by listening in noise for PTAs < ∼47 dB HL, and above it is determined by listening in quiet.

Key Words::

• Speech reception threshold
• matrix sentence test
• German sentence test (OLSA) in noise
• medical audiology
• discriminative power

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study, the students involved in the data collection: Sofie Katrina Stoll and Wojtek Stengert, as well as Birger Kollmeier for his input and support. This project was supported by the DFG Cluster of Excellence EXC 1077/1 “Hearing4all”, the European regional development fund (EFRE), project “HurDig” and by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, project “AIN”. Parts of the data had been presented at the 15th Annual Congress of German Audiological Societies (DGA) in Erlangen, at the 16th Annual Congress of German Audiological Societies (DGA) in Rostock, and at the 84th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in Nürnberg.

Note

1. “Validity determines whether the research truly measures that which it was intended to measure…” (M. Joppe 2000, adapted from: Golafshani N. 2003, The Qualitative Report 8(4), 597–607).

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