Speech discrimination test with mixed noise SY11-3
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Speech discrimination test with mixed noise SY11-3
1. Speech discrimination test with mixed noise
Shotaro Karino, Yusuke Akamatsu, Teru Kamogashira,
Akihiro Tsutsumiuchi, Akinori Kashio, Yu Matsumoto,
Akinobu Kakigi and Tatsuya Yamasoba
Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine
University of Tokyo
2. Introduction
? Realistic acoustic environment with background noise, instead of ideal quiet
condition, is required to evaluate indication hearing aids, cochlear implant or
hybrid type CI.
? Background noise actually deteriorates speech discrimination in most of
elderly people with presbycusis or HA/CI users.
? Binaural hearing enables auditory segregation between target speech and
background noise.
? But few authorized speech discrimination tests in free acoustic field, which
demand standard anechoic room and speakers, are widely performed in ENT
clinics in Japan.
Spatial release from masking
Signal
Masker
3. Objective
? To establish a simple speech discrimination test in noise, using
commercially available audiometer and headphones.
? To evaluate discrimination of Japanese monosyllables by
patients with sensorineural hearing loss under noisy
circumstances and to optimize the condition to detect the
handicap.
4. Methods
Subjects
We classified 64 ears with sensorineural hearing
loss due to cochlear impairment into three grades.
Group 1: < 45 dB at 4000 Hz
N = 16 (15 – 78 y.o. mean = 54 y.o.)
Group 2: >= 45 dB and < 70 dB at 4000 Hz
N = 28 (27 – 84 y.o. mean = 58 y.o.)
Group 3: >= 70 dB at 4000 Hz
N = 20 (5 – 79 y.o. mean = 48 y.o.)
Controls: <= 40 dB at 4000 Hz
and
Speech discrimination score >= 90 %
N = 8 (27 - 35 y.o.)
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)
Intensity(dBHL)Intensity(dBHL)Intensity(dBHL)
5. Equipment and stimuli
Target:
The 67-S speech audiometric test
approved by the Japan Audiological
Society includes the twenty
monosyllables listed in Table 1. The
monosyllables were produced by a
female speaker.
Mixed noise:
Weighted random noise, with a flat
spectrum at 125–1000 Hz and -12
dB/oct at 1000–6000 Hz, was mixed to
the signals in audiometer (RION AA-
H1) and presented to a single tested
ears.
Mora Phonetic
symbol
Consonant
+
Vowel
Tap [?i]
Nasal
[mo]
[?i]
[ne]
Affricate [?i]
Stop
[ta]
[te]
[to]
[ki]
[k?]
[ba]
[ga]
Fricative
[?i]
[s?]
[ha]
Semivowel
+
Vowel
Glide
[wa]
[jo]
Isolated vowel Vowel
[a]
[?]
[o]
Table 1: twenty monosyllables in the 67-S speech
audiometric test
6. Procedure
1) Measuring hearing thresholds
2) Measuring the best speech discrimination without mixed noise
3) Signal of monosyllables was set at the minimal level where the
best discrimination was achieved. Mixed noise was first set to
implement S/N = 10 dB.
4) Discrimination rate of the monosyllables was repeatedly
measured with noise attenuated in 5 dB steps.
8. Results
Discrimination
score in Group 1
was as high as
that in controls in
the quiet
condition.
With mixed noise
of S/N = 10 dB or
5 dB,
discrimination was
clearly degraded
in Group 1.
When noise level
was elevated to
implement S/N = 0
dB, the
discrimination
score in some
controls was as
low as in Group 1.
9. Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)
Intensity(dBHL)Intensity(dBHL)Intensity(dBHL)
Results
Discrimination score in Group 2
was low even in the quiet
condition.
10. Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)
Intensity(dBHL)Intensity(dBHL)Intensity(dBHL)
Results
Discrimination score in Group 3
was much worse in the mixed
noise conditions.
11. Discussion
? Patients with mild sensorineural hearing loss
usually experience difficulty in speech
comprehension in noisy circumstances although
hearing thresholds and SDT in quiet condition do
not detect such handicaps in daily life.
? SDT with mixed noise, which fulfills S/N of 5-10 dB,
can be easily set up and performed in a short time
and a promising tool for clinical test.
? Binaural hearing improves speech discrimination
by spatial release from masking.
? The comparison between the results in our
discrimination test mixed in a single ear and the
binaural test enables further evaluations of
advantages in binaural hearing: Use of interaural
time difference, etc.
Spatial release from masking
Freyman 1999:
Target: nonsense sentence
Masker: noise
Signal
Masker
#5: Speech discrimination test (SDT) was performed using twenty monosyllables included in the 67-S speech audiometric test approved by the Japan Audiological Society.