Development of the Turkish hearing in noise test for children
Ecem Kartal Özcan1, Şule Çekiç2, Gonca Sennaroglu3
1Department of Audiology, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey.
Insights
The Turkish Hearing In Noise Test for Children (HINT-C) was developed, providing age-specific norms and correction factors. Speech-in-noise perception in children improves with age, reaching adult-like levels by 12 years old.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Speech and Hearing Sciences
- Pediatric Audiology
Background:
- Assessing speech-in-noise perception is crucial for children's auditory development and communication.
- Existing tools may not adequately capture age-related changes in hearing abilities for Turkish-speaking children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop the Turkish version of the Hearing In Noise Test for Children (HINT-C).
- To establish age-specific norms and correction factors for Turkish-speaking children.
- To investigate maturation effects on speech-in-noise perception.
Main Methods:
- Creation of 12 phonemically balanced 10-sentence lists for the Turkish HINT-C.
- Inclusion of 62 children (6-12 years) and 15 adults (18-30 years) with normal hearing.
- Examination of age-specific norms, correction factors, and maturation effects.
Main Results:
- Mean performances and Spatial Release from Masking (SRM) values were obtained for various age groups.
- Correction factors were calculated for all child age groups.
- Turkish-speaking children's hearing-in-noise performance approached adult levels by age 12.
Conclusions:
- The Turkish HINT-C provides validated sentence lists and normative data.
- Age-specific norms and correction factors aid in accurate assessment of pediatric hearing in noise.
- Speech-in-noise perception demonstrates significant improvement and maturation throughout childhood up to age 12.
Abstract:
Objectives: The aim of this study is to develop the Turkish version of hearing in noise test for children (HINT-C) by providing norms and correction factors for the children in different age groups.Methods: A total of 77 individuals with normal hearing - 62 children (6-12 years old) and 15 adults (18-30 years old) - were included. Twelve phonemically balanced 10-sentence lists were created from the adult version of the Turkish HINT (Study 1). Age-specific norms, correction factors and maturation effects were examined using the Turkish HINT-C (Study 2).Results: Mean performances under different listening conditions and Spatial Release from Masking (SRM) advantage values were obtained for the 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-year-old and estimated for the 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old age groups, and correction factors were calculated for all children age groups. Turkish-speaking children did not achieve adult-like hearing in noise performance, until they were 12 years old.Conclusions: Twelve phonemically balanced 10-sentence lists of Turkish HINT-C were created, and the mean performances of children in different age groups were measured. In addition to the age-specific HINT-C norms and correction factors for the 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-year-old age groups, the maturation effects were determined.Highlights The assessment of speech-in-noise perception is highly critical for children.To evaluate the speech-in-noise perception ability, 12 phonemically balanced 10-sentence lists of Turkish HINT-C were created.Speech-in-noise perception ability improves with age.Turkish-speaking children do not achieve adult-like hearing in noise performance, until they were 12 years old.
