Extending an Established Speech Recognition Threshold Procedure for Use in Noise: An Exploratory Study.

ABSTRACT Purpose: This exploratory study examined whether an established clinical procedure for determining speech recognition thresholds in quiet, as outlined by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (1988), could be extended to a competing-noise condition using existing recorded speech materials. The objectives were to determine whether the resulting speech recognition thresholds in noise (SRTinNs) were broadly consistent with findings from established speech-in-noise measures and to examine their associations with pure-tone thresholds. Methods: Twenty-five adults participated in this exploratory study: 15 with sensorineural hearing loss and 10 with normal audiograms. SRTinNs were estimated using an adaptation of the established threshold-seeking procedure with Canadian French monosyllabic words presented against continuous eight-talker babble. SRTinNs were compared between groups, and associations with pure-tone averages were examined among participants with hearing loss. Results: Mean SRTinNs were +7.2 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for participants with hearing loss and +1.7 dB SNR for those with normal audiograms, representing a significant difference of 5.5 dB SNR (p = .02). Among participants with hearing loss, SRTinNs were significantly correlated with conventional pure-tone averages (r = .54, p = .04) and high-frequency pure-tone averages (r = .64, p = .01). Conclusions: The findings provide preliminary support for further investigation of extending an established clinical threshold-seeking procedure to competing-noise conditions. Further investigation of this approach may help expand access to speech-in-noise assessment in linguistic contexts where suitable recorded speech materials are available but dedicated speech-in-noise tests are lacking.