Monosyllable speech audiometry in noise-exposed workers—consonant and vowel confusion

• Published in: Journal of sound and vibration Vol. 127; no. 3; pp. 535 - 541
• Main Authors: Miyakita, T., Miura, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Elsevier Ltd 22.12.1988; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology; Medical sciences
• ISSN: 0022-460X; 1095-8568
• DOI: 10.1016/0022-460X(88)90380-X

To obtain basic data for evaluating the hearing handicaps experienced by workers with noise-induced hearing loss, the ability to distinguish monosyllables was examined by speech audiometry. The percentage of correct scores for each monosyllable varied widely in 88 male workers, depending on the presentation level and the severity of hearing loss. A 67-S word list (prepared by the Japan Audiological Society), consisting of 20 Japanese monosyllables (17 consonant-vowel (CV) syllables and three vowel syllables), was used to evaluate consonant and vowel confusion at the level of 20 to 90 dB ( re HL at 1000 Hz [9]). Regarding the confusion among five subsequent vowel nuclei, we observed particular confusion patterns resulting from the similarity of the first formant (F1). Analysis of the tendency toward confusion among individual monosyllables together with the audiometric configuration will provide useful information for evaluating noise-induced hearing loss.