Measuring spectral and temporal resolution simultaneously: A comparison between two tests

Abstract

Abstract

Objective: Spectral- and temporal-resolution tests are seldom used in clinical practice despite their proven relevance for patients' speech understanding in noise and expected importance for hearing-aid fitting. The aim here was to investigate and compare two clinically applicable tests (‘tone test’ and ‘sweep test’) that measure both spectral and temporal resolution simultaneously. Design: Experiments were conducted monaurally via headphones. After examining test-retest reliabilities and learning effects we compared results from tone and sweep tests to results from conventional spectral and temporal-resolution tests and to speech perception in noise scores. Study Sample: A group of five normal-hearing listeners (aged 18–42 years, median 19) and 15 (sensorineurally) hearing-impaired listeners (aged 20–68 years, median 56). Results: It was found that the tone test corresponded much better to the conventional methods than the sweep test. Relating spectral and temporal-resolution results to speech perception in noise scores showed that the tone test seems to be slightly more relevant for speech perception than the sweep test. Conclusions: It can be concluded that the tone test (after modifications we suggest, based on our findings) is a fast and reliable test that is suitable for measuring spectral and temporal resolution in a clinical setting.

Sumario

Objetivo: Pocas veces se utilizan las pruebas espectrales y de resolución temporal en la práctica clínica a pesar de su probada relevancia en el reconocimiento del lenguaje en ruido y la expectativa de su importancia en la adaptación de auxiliares auditivos. El objetivo aquí fue investigar y comparar dos pruebas aplicables en la clínica (“prueba de tono” y “prueba de barrido”) que mide la resolución espectral y la temporal simultáneamente. Diseño: Los experimentos realizados fueron monoaurales por medio de auriculares. Después de examinar la confiabilidad test-retest y el efecto aprendizaje, comparamos los resultados de las pruebas de tono y de barrido con los resultados de las pruebas convencionales de resolución temporal y espectral y con los resultados de la percepción del lenguaje en ruido. Muestra: Un grupo de cinco sujetos normoyentes (edad 18-42, media 19) y cinco sujetos con hipoacusia sensorineural (edad 20-68 años, media 56). Resultados: Encontramos que la prueba de tono corresponde mucho mejor con los métodos convencionales que con la prueba de barrido. Con respecto a los resultados de la resolución temporal y espectral de la percepción del lenguaje en ruido, los resultados mostraron que la prueba de tono parece ser un poco más relevante para la percepción del lenguaje que la prueba de barrido. Conclusiones: En conclusión se puede concluir que la prueba de tono (después de modificaciones que sugerimos basados en nuestros hallazgos) es una prueba rápida, confiable y es apropiada para medir la resolución espectral y temporal en la clínica.

Key Words::

• Hearing impaired
• Spectral and temporal resolution
• Clinical tests
• Speech perception

Acknowledgements

Parts of this work have been presented at the 8th European Federation of Audiology Societies (EFAS) Congress, June 7, 2007, Heidelberg, Germany: ‘Auditory profile: Measuring spectral and temporal resolution’.

We thank all partners from HEARCOM work package 2 for productive discussions: Sheetal Athalye, Daniel Berg, Matthias Halgren, Tammo Houtgast, Birger Kollmeier, Birgitta Larsby, Mark Lutman, Johannes Lyzenga, Joyce Vliegen, Matthias Vormann, and Kirsten Wagener. We also thank László Korossy and Rolph Houben for technical support, and Gaston Hilkhuysen for providing the sweep test software. Finally we thank the test subjects for their participation. Also, we want to acknowledge the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

Declaration of interest: Supported by grants from the European Union FP6, Project 004171 HEARCOM. The information in this document is provided as is, and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at his/her sole risk and liability. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

¹Approved by the Medical Ethical Committee AMC, no. 05/127, August 3rd, 2005.

²Starting points were the original test descriptions: the tone test started with a training session (see Larsby & Arlinger, 1999), whereas no prior training was provided for the sweep test (see Hikhuysen et al, 2005; George et al, 2006).