Clinical validation of the Russian Matrix test – effect of hearing loss, age, and noise level

Abstract

Objective

To validate the Russian matrix sentence test (RUMatrix) for the assessment of speech recognition in quiet and in noise in clinical praxis. The effect of hearing impairment, age, and masking-noise level on speech recognition was examined.

Design

All participants underwent pure tone audiometry, a monosyllabic speech test in quiet, and speech recognition measurements with RUMatrix in quiet (SRT_Q) and in noise (SRT_N).

Study sample

One hundred and forty-two listeners divided into four groups: 1. Young normal-hearing listeners, 2. Older normal-hearing listeners, 3. Young hearing-impaired listeners, and 4. Older hearing-impaired listeners.

Results

Significant differences between groups of listeners were found in the SRT_Q and SRT_N. A strong correlation between hearing threshold and SRT_Q (R²=0.88, p < 0.001) indicates a strong link between speech recognition in quiet and audibility. The pure-tone average explained less variance in SRT_N (R²=0.67, p < 0.001), pointing out an additional influence of suprathreshold distortion. A high test sensitivity of 0.99 was found for SRT_N and SRT_Q. The monosyllabic test had a low sensitivity (0.21), indicating that the test is not suitable for separating normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

Conclusions

RuMatrix is a reliable speech recognition assessment tool with a high sensitivity and validity for the main aspects of hearing impairment.

Keywords:

• Hearing impairment
• speech perception
• speech in noise
• Matrix test

Acknowledgments

The copyright of the Russian matrix sentence test audio material is owned by the non-profit organisation HörTech gGmbH (majority owned by the University of Oldenburg). The test is available as a medical product for modern audiometers of different brands. For research purposes, sample sentences and free trial versions of the research version of the software are available from www.hoertech.de. English language services were provided by stels-ol.de.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) funded research project “Model-based multilingual rehabilitative audiology” [No. 32543918] and under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2177/1 [Project ID 390895286].