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Results for “Speech Reception Threshold Test”

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PubMed2006

Effects of introducing unprocessed low-frequency information on the reception of envelope-vocoder processed speech.

This study investigated the benefits of adding unprocessed low-frequency information to acoustic simulations of cochlear-implant processing in normal-hearing listeners. Implant processing was simulated using an eight-channel noise-excited envelope vocoder, and low-frequency information was added by replacing the lower frequency channels of the processor with a low-pass-filtered version of the original stimulus. Experiment 1 measured sentence-level speech reception as a function of target-to-masker ratio, with either steady-state speech-shaped noise or single-talker maskers. Experiment 2 measured listeners' ability to identify two vowels presented simultaneously, as a function of the F0 difference between the two vowels. In both experiments low-frequency information was added below either 300 or 600 Hz. The introduction of the additional low-frequency information led to substantial and significant improvements in performance in both experiments, with a greater improvement observed for the higher (600 Hz) than for the lower (300 Hz) cutoff frequency. However, performance never equaled performance in the unprocessed conditions. The results confirm other recent demonstrations that added low-frequency information can provide significant benefits in intelligibility, which may at least in part be attributed to improvements in F0 representation. The findings provide further support for efforts to make use of residual acoustic hearing in cochlear-implant users.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

Validation of the pediatric speech intelligibility test in children with central nervous system lesions.

The pediatric speech intelligibility (PSI) test was administered to 21 children with a variety of documented central nervous system (CNS) lesions. Ages ranged from 3 to 8 years. PSI test results demonstrated both high sensitivity and high specificity. Results were consistently (1) abnormal in children with lesions in areas of the brain important for auditory function (CNS auditory disorders) and (2) normal in children with lesions in areas anatomically remote from auditory nuclei and pathways (nonauditory CNS disorders).

Auditory Threshold↗

PubMed1979

Reliability in the determination of speech reception threshold (SRT).

Clinical measurements of the speech reception threshold (SRT) have been made in order to determine the parameter values of a psychometric function. SRT measurements were then simulated in a computer to obtain, among other things, the standard deviation of a number of measurements from one and the same "patient". "Patients" with poor speech discrimination resulted in bad reliability of the SRT and great sensitivity to the hearing level at which the test started. New methods are proposed here, which are both faster and less susceptible to influence from the patient's speech discrimination.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Reduced auditory efferent activity in childhood selective mutism.

BACKGROUND: Selective mutism is a psychiatric disorder of childhood characterized by consistent inability to speak in specific situations despite the ability to speak normally in others. The objective of this study was to test whether reduced auditory efferent activity, which may have direct bearings on speaking behavior, is compromised in selectively mute children. METHODS: Participants were 16 children with selective mutism and 16 normally developing control children matched for age and gender. All children were tested for pure-tone audiometry, speech reception thresholds, speech discrimination, middle-ear acoustic reflex thresholds and decay function, transient evoked otoacoustic emission, suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emission, and auditory brainstem response. RESULTS: Compared with control children, selectively mute children displayed specific deficiencies in auditory efferent activity. These aberrations in efferent activity appear along with normal pure-tone and speech audiometry and normal brainstem transmission as indicated by auditory brainstem response latencies. CONCLUSIONS: The diminished auditory efferent activity detected in some children with SM may result in desensitization of their auditory pathways by self-vocalization and in reduced control of masking and distortion of incoming speech sounds. These children may gradually learn to restrict vocalization to the minimal amount possible in contexts that require complex auditory processing.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗

PubMed1990

On the limited transfer of information with noise-induced hearing loss.

Assessment of hearing handicap is frequently based on hearing loss in the frequency region from 0.5 to 2.0 kHz. The region above 2 kHz, however, is important for hearing, particularly when one considers speech perception in conditions with ambient noise. The present study, based on 200 individuals (400 ears) with noise-induced hearing loss, shows that the average value of hearing loss at 2 and 4 kHz is the best simple predictor of the speech-reception threshold measured in noisy conditions. Speech perception is still impaired when the speech level and the level of the interfering noise exceed the hearing loss. This implies that calculations of speech intelligibility based on the articulation-index procedure are invalid. In these calculations it is assumed that only the speech-to-noise level distance (and not the extent of the hearing loss) determines the speech threshold when both the signal and the noise level exceed the hearing loss. An alternative model may be based on the assumption that the frequency channels in the region of the lesion are completely inoperative and that pure tones in this frequency region are detected because excitation spreads toward a region with normal sensitivity. Experimental verification and predictions based on this model show that this assumption is too rigorous. Frequency channels in the region of the lesion do become activated at high stimulus levels, but their contribution to speech perception deteriorates.

Audiometry, Pure-Tone↗

PubMed1998

Psychometric equivalence of recorded spondaic words as test items.

In the determination of the speech-reception threshold (SRT), spondaic words are assumed to be homogeneous with respect to intelligibility; and the assumption of equal intelligibility requires that the words be comparable for all signal levels. Previous attempts to assess the equal intelligibility assumption using word thresholds as the sole criterion are not an adequate basis for specifying the equality of intelligibility. In the present study, the recorded spondaic words (Tillman recording) were analyzed in an attempt to create a more homogeneous set of spondaic words for future laboratory work. To achieve this goal, the data reported by Young, Dudley, and Gunter (1982) and data collected in our laboratory were fitted to a logistic function (psychometric function) from which a 50% point (threshold) and slope were obtained. To specify their acoustical parameters, the recorded spondaic words were digitized and the RMS level and duration of each syllable and word were calculated. None of the RMS or duration measures were correlated with word thresholds, so no attempt was made to equate level or duration. On the other hand, when the threshold of each word was adjusted to equal the mean threshold of the set (n = 36), the dispersion among word thresholds and slopes was greatly reduced. Further, we recommend that small sets of "equally intelligible" spondaic words not be used for clinical testing because set size is a strong factor in determining threshold for spondees (Meyer & Bilger, 1997; Punch & Howard, 1985).

Humans↗

PubMed1979

Effect of middle-ear dysfunction and disease on hearing and language in high-risks infants.

The effect of middle-ear dysfunction and disease on hearing and language development at one year of age was evaluated for 143 high-risk infants. These infants were categorized as normal or abnormal based on otologic history, otoscopic examinations, and on tympanometric examinations. Language was significantly related to gestational age, being delayed by approximately the amount of prematurity. Language scores were therefore adjusted for gestational age. Speech-detection threshold was not related to gestational age, and was used as the measure of hearing. Hearing levels were negatively correlated with adjusted language quotients. Infants with abnormal otologic histories reported were not different from infants with normal histories in either hearing or language development. Infants with bilateral otoscopic abnormalities had significantly higher speech-detection thresholds, but did not differ in language development from those with bilaterally normal otoscopy. Infants who were abnormal bilaterally by tympanometric examination had significantly higher speech-detection thresholds as well as significantly delayed language development. A significant effect on both hearing and language was found among those infants bilaterally abnormal by tympanometry for whom evidence of middle-ear disease was not visualized by otoscopic examination. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Hearing Disorders↗

PubMed1983

The intelligibility of sentences in quiet and in noise in aged listeners.

The monaural speech-reception threshold (SRT) for sentences was investigated in quiet and under four noise conditions for 80 male subjects (age 60-90) and 30 female subjects (age 71-89). The noise levels used were 28, 43, 58, and 73 dBA. The noise had the long-term average spectrum of speech. It is shown that a model developed by Plomp [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 63, 533-549 (1978)], which interprets any hearing loss for speech (SHL) as a combination of a loss of class A (attenuation of both speech and noise) and a loss of class D (distortion of the sound signals), enables one to make an accurate description of the SRT values measured. Fitting this model, for each individual, to the SRT data yielded values for SHL in quiet (= A + D) and in noise (= D). These individual SHL values were studied in relation to one another and in relation to such parameters as the pure-tone average (PTA), the Fletcher Index (FI), and the increment in intelligibility score per dB near SRT. It was found that (1) subjects with the same SHL in quiet may differ considerably in their SHL in noise; (2) for an individual, PTA and FI are inaccurate measures for predicting SHL in quiet and in noise, and (3) the higher an individual's SHL in noise, the lower is the increase per dB of the intelligibility score for sentences in noise.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

The effects of input-output configuration in syllabic compression on speech perception.

Speech perception was tested through a broad-band syllabic compressor with four different static input-output configurations. All other parameters of the compressor were held constant. The compressor was implemented digitally and incorporated a delay to reduce overshoot. We studied four different input-output configurations, including a linear reference condition. Normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects participated in the experiments testing perception of meaningful sentences as well as nonsense CVCs in carrier phrases. The speech materials were presented in quiet and in noise. The results from the CVCs were analyzed quantitatively in terms of scores and qualitatively in terms of phoneme confusions. Differences in speech perception due to the different input-output configurations were small. The input-output configuration with the highest amplification of low amplitude sounds yielded the best results. Detailed analysis of the results included a correlational analysis with a number of auditory functions characterizing the ears tested. The pure-tone audiogram provided parameters of auditory sensitivity: average audiometric loss and audiometric slope. Psychophysical tests provided parameters of temporal resolution and frequency selectivity: the temporal resolution factor, temporal gap detection, and auditory filter shape. The correlational analysis showed that the subjects with better temporal acuity obtained better results.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Speech perception after cochlear implantation over a 4-year time period.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term speech perception of cochlear implantees and to compare the developing auditory performance patterns of prelingual children and postlingual deaf adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-nine prelingually deaf children and 17 postlingually deaf adults who had been followed up for 4 years were included in the study. Speech perception ability was assessed by means of vowel and consonant confusion tests and the Korean version of the Central Institute of Deafness (K-CID) test (performed without visual cues). The test results were analyzed at 3 and 6 months after implantation and then annually. RESULTS: In the prelingually deaf children, the average results continuously improved over the 4-year period. In the postlingually deaf adults, the average results did not improve further after the first 2 years. Individuals with < 5 years of deafness had a faster rate of recovery of speech perception than those who had been deaf for > 5 years. The K-CID scores were negatively correlated with age at implantation for the prelingually deaf group and with the duration of deafness in the postlingually deaf group. Children fitted with implants at a younger age showed better speech perception ability than those fitted with implants at an older age. Interestingly, prelingually deaf children aged 5-7 years at implantation showed the widest variation in individual outcomes. Amongst this group of children with highly variable outcomes, the metabolic status of brain cortices determined by means of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) was available for three patients. The individual with the widest hypometabolic area had the best speech perception ability. CONCLUSION: The extent of hypometabolism as assessed by FDG-PET seemed to be one of the major factors predicting the outcome of cochlear implantation.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Speech recognition performance on a modified nonsense syllable test.

A modification of the City University of New York nonsense syllable test (CUNY NST) has been developed in which (a) the several subtests of the original test are replaced with a 22-item consonant-vowel (CV) subtest and a 16-item vowel-consonant (VC) subtest; and, (b) the response choices for each target syllable include all 22 initial and all 16 final consonants, respectively. In addition, the test tokens are presented as isolated syllables without a carrier phrase. These changes enable the resolution of confusions not possible on the original NST, and also the construction of a single confusion matrix each for CVs and VCs, respectively. The modified nonsense syllable test (MNST) provides results that compare favorably to those of the original NST.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

[Auditory neuropathy].

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical feature and audiological and electrophysiological characteristics of auditory neuropathy. METHODS: The history, audiometry, stapedial reflex, electrocochleogram, auditory brainstem response, promontory stimulation tests, otoacoustic emissions (OAE) and its contralateral supression tests were studied in 17 cases of auditory neuropathy. RESULTS: The patients were predominently female teenagers with a history of gradual onset of bilateral hearing loss, pure tone auditometry revealed symmetric ascending audiograms with moderate hearing loss at frequencies below 1 kHz, but relatively normal hearing at 2 kHz and above. Speech reception thresholds were between 40 to 85 dB HL, discrimination score was from 29% to 68%. Stapedial reflex, auditory brainstem response and compound action potentials were absent or threshold elevated disproportionately to the pure tone threshold. All of the patients had normal cochlear microphonics and robust spontaneously and transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions (SOAE and TEOAE), the TEOAE showed no contralateral suppression effects as seen in normal subjects. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of the disease depends on the discrepancies between subjective and objective hearing and pre-neural and neural responses. The crossed olivocochlear bundle function testing in terms of contralateral acoustic stimulation induced otoacoustic emission reduction is specific for differential diagnosis. There is a need for more awareness of the disease among otolaryngologists and neurologists.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗

PubMed1999

Measuring the threshold for speech reception by adaptive variation of the signal bandwidth. I. Normal-hearing listeners.

An adaptive test has been developed to determine the minimum bandwidth of speech that a listener needs to reach 50% intelligibility. Measuring this speech-reception bandwidth threshold (SRBT), in addition to the more common speech-reception threshold (SRT) in noise, may be useful in investigating the factors underlying impaired suprathreshold speech perception. Speech was bandpass filtered (center frequency: 1 kHz) and complementary bandstop filtered noise was added. To obtain reference values, the SRBT was measured in 12 normal-hearing listeners at four sound-pressure levels, in combination with three overall spectral tilts. Plotting SRBT as a function of sound-pressure level resulted in U-shaped curves. The most narrow SRBT (1.4 octave) was obtained at an A-weighted sound-pressure level of 55 dB. The required bandwidth increases with increasing level, probably due to upward spread of masking. At a lower level (40 dBA) listeners also need a broader band, because parts of the speech signal will be below threshold. The SII (Speech Intelligibility Index) model reasonably predicts the data, although it seems to underestimate upward spread of masking.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Evaluation of a speech enhancement strategy with normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

An adaptive digital signal processing procedure was applied to various speech signals in three noise backgrounds. The procedure uses a modified approach to Wiener filtering to estimate a noise suppression filter which reduces the signal at frequencies most likely to be corrupted by noise. Speech intelligibility was compared with and without processing, for speech presented in three types of background noise: multitalker babble, wide-band noise, and narrow-band noise. The speech signals used were six spondaic words spoken by a male talker; 20 consonants, in an intervocalic environment, spoken by a female talker; and a passage of continuous discourse read by a female talker. Adaptive speech reception threshold (ASRT) testing was used to estimate the minimum SNR at which the spondaic words could be identified 70.7% of the time. With this test, signal processing improved performance by 11 dB in narrow-band noise for normal-hearing listeners; no statistically significant improvement was observed when listening in a background of wide-band or speech babble noise. Five of the six hearing-impaired listeners also had improved performance when listening in narrow-band noise, but minimal changes in wide-band or speech babble noise. With the consonant targets, a closed-set nonsense syllable testing procedure demonstrated that processing did not change or slightly reduced performance for all listeners. With continuous discourse all listeners demonstrated a strong preference for processed signals under most listening conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Development of the Hearing in Noise Test for the measurement of speech reception thresholds in quiet and in noise.

A large set of sentence materials, chosen for their uniformity in length and representation of natural speech, has been developed for the measurement of sentence speech reception thresholds (sSRTs). The mean-squared level of each digitally recorded sentence was adjusted to equate intelligibility when presented in spectrally matched noise to normal-hearing listeners. These materials were cast into 25 phonemically balanced lists of ten sentences for adaptive measurement of sentence sSRTs. The 95% confidence interval for these measurements is +/- 2.98 dB for sSRTs in quiet and +/- 2.41 dB for sSRTs in noise, as defined by the variability of repeated measures with different lists. Average sSRTs in quiet were 23.91 dB(A). Average sSRTs in 72 dB(A) noise were 69.08 dB(A), or -2.92 dB signal/noise ratio. Low-pass filtering increased sSRTs slightly in quiet and noise as the 4- and 8-kHz octave bands were eliminated. Much larger increases in SRT occurred when the 2-kHz octave band was eliminated, and bandwidth dropped below 2.5 kHz. Reliability was not degraded substantially until bandwidth dropped below 2.5 kHz. The statistical reliability and efficiency of the test suit it to practical applications in which measures of speech intelligibility are required.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed1992

Clinical manifestations and audiologic diagnosis of acoustic neuromas.

If an AN is suspected, a detailed patient history and a thorough otologic and neurotologic physical examination should be carried out. The first echelon of diagnostic testing begins with a pure tone audiogram, speech reception threshold, speech discrimination testing, and acoustic reflex testing. If the clinician is even moderately suspicious of the presence of an AN, the patient should undergo a Gd-MRI scan. If suspicion is low, an ABR should be performed, and if negative, the patient should be reevaluated periodically.

Audiometry↗

PubMed1979

The Hearing Handicap Scale as a measure of hearing aid benefit.

Use of the Hearing Handicap Scale as a measure of hearing aid benefit was investigated. New hearing aid users with bilateral, sensorineural hearing losses ranging from 5 dB HL to 55 dB HL served as subjects. Changes in speech reception threshold, word identification, and Hearing Handicap Scale were derived by comparing data obtained prior to hearing aid use with that obtained following four weeks of hearing aid use. Results showed a significant improvement for all three measurements and indicated that improvement in word identification presented at conversational level was more related to self-reported hearing aid benefit than was improvement in speech reception threshold. Also, word identification ratings obtained with the stimuli presented at conversation speech level produced a significant correlation with Hearing Handicap Scale scores.

Adult↗

PubMed1981

The effects of early middle ear pathology on auditory perception and academic achievement.

Two groups of children were compared to determine the effects of early middle ear pathology on the development of auditory perceptual skills and academic achievement. The conductive loss (CL) group consisted of 15 children, aged seven to nine years, with histories of middle ear pathology. The normal control (NC) group was matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status and had negative histories of middle ear pathology. Both groups were from a suburban community of primarily mild socioeconomic status. A test battery consisting of 12 auditory perceptual tests as well as measures of academic achievement, non-verbal intelligence and visual perception was administered. Results showed that the overall performance of the CL group on the test battery was significantly lower than that of the NC group. Performance of the CL group was also significantly lower in specific auditory perceptual areas. No significant differences were found on test of non-verbal intelligence or visual perception. Although scores were not significantly different on academic achievement tests, school records indicate that the CL loss group had received more special support services than the controls. This investigation suggests that early middle ear pathology may produce secondary effects that can persist well beyond the episodes of temporary conductive hearing loss.

Achievement↗