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The Efficiency of the Kannada Digit Triplet Test to Identify Older Adults with Mild-to-Moderate Sensorineural Hearing
Salman Safeer1, Mohan Kumar Kalaiah1
1Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
Introduction:
Hearing loss, especially age-related, affects speech perception and quality of life. Despite its prevalence, many individuals remain undiagnosed due to low awareness and limited access to screening tools. The Digit Triplet Test (DTT) is a proven speech-in-noise screening tool adapted into many languages. In India, the Kannada DTT was developed to address the need for a regional screening method. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Kannada DTT to identify older adults with hearing loss.
Objective:
To determine the sensitivity and specificity of the Kannada DTT in identifying older adults with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).
Methods:
A total of 125 native Kannada-speaking participants aged 50 to 84 years were divided into 2 groups: 57 with normal hearing and 68 with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Pure tone audiometry and speech identification scores were recorded. Participants underwent the Kannada DTT monaurally in both ears using an adaptive protocol.
Results:
The DTT scores were significantly poorer in the hearing loss group. A moderate positive correlation (r ≈ 0.68) was observed between pure tone average and DTT score. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that a DTT cutoff score of -11.05 dB provided the best classification accuracy, with sensitivity and specificity of 79.4% and 82.5% for the right ear, and 83.8% and 86% for the left ear, respectively.
Conclusion:
The Kannada DTT demonstrates good sensitivity and specificity in identifying older adults with mild-to-moderate SNHL and can be considered a reliable screening tool for early detection.
