[Comparative speech audiometry examinations with compact disk and cassette tape]

We compared the results of speech audiometry, performed with recorded tape and compact disc recordings (CD), respectively, in 21 subjects with bone-conduction hearing losses CHL and 27 subjects with sensorineural hearing losses. In all cases, speech audiometry was performed by using the 1969 Freiburg speech test material based on the German DIN standard 45626. In subjects with air-bone gaps, the hearing loss for speech was 2.3 dB smaller if tested by use of CD and speech recognition was 10.5 points better. Smaller differences could be found in sensorineural HL. For CD, hearing losses were 1.2 dB smaller and speech recognition scores were increased by only 1 point. These differences were not statistically significant. These findings show that calculations of hearing impairments and individual hearing handicaps from tables commonly used in Germany in medicolegal expert evaluations should not be changed if CD records are used that are based on 1969 DIN 4526 recordings. However, the handling of compact discs has many advantages in relation to the handling of tapes.