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Measuring Speech Intelligibility and Hearing-Aid Benefit Using Everyday Conversational Sentences in Real-World
Kelly Miles1, Timothy Beechey2, Virginia Best3
1ECHO Laboratory, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
|April 4, 2022
Summary
Realistic speech tasks better predict real-world intelligibility than standard tests. New ECO-SiN sentences capture individual hearing aid benefits across diverse noisy environments, reducing testing limitations.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Speech-Language Pathology
- Human Communication
Background:
- Current speech intelligibility tests may not accurately reflect real-world communication.
- Developing ecologically valid assessments is crucial for understanding speech perception in everyday situations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare speech intelligibility using standard (BKB) and realistic (ECO-SiN) sentence tasks.
- To evaluate the impact of hearing loss, background noise, and hearing aid amplification on speech perception in realistic conditions.
Main Methods:
- Participants (young normal-hearing and older hearing-impaired) completed sentence recall tasks with clear and spontaneous speech in realistic noise.
- Stimuli were presented at natural levels across varying signal-to-noise ratios.
- Hearing aid amplification was assessed in hearing-impaired participants.
Main Results:
- Realistic ECO-SiN sentences yielded lower scores than standard BKB sentences, reducing ceiling effects.
- Speech intelligibility was influenced by hearing loss, noise characteristics, and speech material type.
- Hearing aid benefit varied depending on the speech task, noise, and participant group.
Conclusions:
- The ECO-SiN task provides a wider dynamic range for assessing speech intelligibility and hearing aid effectiveness.
- More realistic speech materials are essential for accurately predicting real-world communication performance.
- This approach enhances the evaluation of hearing aid benefit across diverse listening environments.
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