Johannes Lyzenga1, Cas Smits. 1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Audiology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. j.lyzenga@vumc.nl
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In a number of European countries, a functional self-test to screen for hearing impairment is available via telephone and the Internet. The tests estimate speech-reception thresholds using an adaptive procedure in which digit triplets are presented at varying signal-to-noise ratios. In different languages, the stimuli were created either with or without coarticulation; and some implementations use fresh noise samples, while others do not. PURPOSE: The present investigation concerns the influence of coarticulation, prosody, and noise freshness on measured thresholds. STUDY SAMPLE: We performed a laboratory study using 12 normal-hearing listeners. RESEARCH DESIGN: In a blocked design we compared speech-reception thresholds for conditions with and without fresh noise tokens. In each block we used three types of triplets: with coarticulation and prosody, with neither, and without coarticulation but with prosody. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Thirty-six thresholds were recorded per subject, and they were analyzed using analyses of variance. RESULTS: The results showed no significant differences among the three triplet conditions. The freshness of the noise did not affect thresholds when, at least, a fresh noise token was used per threshold estimate (23 presentations). Scores dropped significantly when a whole experimental block was performed with a single noise token. American Academy of Audiology.
BACKGROUND: In a number of European countries, a functional self-test to screen for hearing impairment is available via telephone and the Internet. The tests estimate speech-reception thresholds using an adaptive procedure in which digit triplets are presented at varying signal-to-noise ratios. In different languages, the stimuli were created either with or without coarticulation; and some implementations use fresh noise samples, while others do not. PURPOSE: The present investigation concerns the influence of coarticulation, prosody, and noise freshness on measured thresholds. STUDY SAMPLE: We performed a laboratory study using 12 normal-hearing listeners. RESEARCH DESIGN: In a blocked design we compared speech-reception thresholds for conditions with and without fresh noise tokens. In each block we used three types of triplets: with coarticulation and prosody, with neither, and without coarticulation but with prosody. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Thirty-six thresholds were recorded per subject, and they were analyzed using analyses of variance. RESULTS: The results showed no significant differences among the three triplet conditions. The freshness of the noise did not affect thresholds when, at least, a fresh noise token was used per threshold estimate (23 presentations). Scores dropped significantly when a whole experimental block was performed with a single noise token. American Academy of Audiology.
Authors: Robert L Folmer; Jay Vachhani; Garnett P McMillan; Charles Watson; Gary R Kidd; M Patrick Feeney Journal: J Am Acad Audiol Date: 2017-02 Impact factor: 1.664
Authors: Karina C De Sousa; De Wet Swanepoel; David R Moore; Hermanus Carel Myburgh; Cas Smits Journal: Ear Hear Date: 2020 Mar/Apr Impact factor: 3.570