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Abstract
Conclusion: The Finnish Matrix Test is the first sentence test in noise for the Finnish language. It was developed according to the HearCom standards and provides reliable speech intelligibility measurements with highly comparable results with the other international matrix tests. Objectives: The aim of the study was to develop an accurate speech intelligibility test in noise for the Finnish language that is comparable across different languages. Methods: We chose a matrix sentence test, which comprises a base matrix of 10 names, verbs, numerals, adjectives and nouns. Test lists were formed from this matrix quasi randomly, providing test sentences of the same syntactical structure. The speech material corresponds to everyday spoken language and the phoneme distribution is representative of the Finnish language. The test was optimized by determining the speech recognition thresholds of the individual words and subsequently by applying level corrections of up to ±3 dB. Evaluation measurements were performed to check the equivalence of the different test lists with respect to speech intelligibility and to provide reference values for further clinical applications. Results: After training, the mean speech recognition threshold (SRT) and the slope of the final test lists were –10.1 ± 0.1 dB signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR)and 16.7 ± 1.2%/dB, respectively (measurements at constant level; inter-list variability). The mean SRT and the slope of the test subjects were –10.1 ± 0.7 dB SNR and 17.5 ± 2.2%/dB (measurements at constant level; inter-subject variability). The expected SRT range for normal-hearing young adults for adaptive measurements is –9.7 ± 0.7 dB SNR.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mrs Marjukka Havumäki for lending her voice for the test. We express our gratitude to Mrs Anna-Leena Roitto, Mrs Eija Heimonen and Mrs Eila Pirinen for conducting all the measurements. Thanks also to Mrs Rebecca Carroll for her support during recording and post production of the sound files and for her linguistic expertise. We would like to thank Med El Deutschland GmbH for providing the funding to start this project. The Oticon Foundation, Cochlear Nordic Ab, Korvatautien tutkimussäätiö and EVO-funding of the Kuopio University Hospital granted additional support.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.