A test to measure subjective and objective speech intelligibility.

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Hearing Science
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Assessing hearing aid outcomes is complex due to multiple dimensions like performance and satisfaction.
• Discrepancies between these dimensions are common and difficult to reconcile.
• Current methods use varied formats and materials for different outcome dimensions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel outcome measure for hearing aids.
• To assess both objective and subjective dimensions using a unified test format and unit of measurement.
• To determine the perceptual-performance discrepancy (PPDIS) and its relation to subjective ratings.

Main Methods:

• Developed an outcome measure assessing both objective and subjective dimensions.
• Measured performance and perceptual speech reception thresholds in the same unit (signal-to-noise ratio).
• Calculated the PPDIS as the difference between perceptual and performance thresholds.

Main Results:

• The new measure uses a consistent test format and unit (signal-to-noise ratio).
• On average, 48% of the variance in subjective hearing aid ratings was explained by performance and PPDIS.
• The PPDIS quantifies the gap between objective performance and subjective perception.

Conclusions:

• The developed outcome measure offers a potentially valuable clinical tool for hearing aid assessment.
• Integrating objective and subjective measures in a unified format enhances outcome evaluation.
• This approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of hearing aid effectiveness and user experience.