Standardization of a test of speech perception in noise

All 10 forms of the test of Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) were presented to 128 listeners who had some degree of sensorineural hearing loss. Presentation of the speech track was at 50 dB above the estimated threshold for the babble track. Signal-to-babble ratio was 8 dB. Half of the subjects listened through headphones and half via loudspeaker. Half were tested in a single session and half in two sessions spaced 2-4 weeks apart. Two markers independently scored every test session. Statistical analyses indicate that transducer, number of visits, and order of test form presentation have little or no effect on test scores, and differences between markers, although significant, are quite small. The subtests consisting of items with strong contextual cues generate an average reliability coefficient of .91, whereas the value for the low-context subtests is .85. The 10 forms do not, however, constitute a set of equivalent forms, and there are large differences in mean performance on the low-context portions.