Applications of the NTID speech recognition test (NSRT(®))

• Published in: International journal of audiology Vol. 54; no. 11; p. 828
• Main Authors: Garrison, Wayne M, Bochner, Joseph H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 02.11.2015
• Subjects: Auditory Threshold; Female; Hearing Loss - rehabilitation; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Speech Discrimination Tests; Speech Perception; Rasch measurement; hearing thresholds; Speech recognition; auditory training; phonetic analysis; item response theory; adaptive testing
• ISSN: 1708-8186
• DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2015.1055837

This study evaluated the diagnostic capabilities of an adaptive speech recognition protocol (NSRT(®)) that can be self-administered in non-clinical venues by listeners using internet-based software. All participants were given an audiological evaluation, including pure-tone testing, and responded to the NSRT administered in quiet and + 5 dB SNR listening conditions. The NSRT test materials are sentence-length utterances containing phonetic contrasts, primarily minimal pairs. Subjects were 123 adults with normal hearing to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss (mean age = 55 years, SD = 23). Performance on the NSRT is strongly related to pure-tone thresholds. Linear regression analyses support the utility of the NSRT as a proxy for clinically-obtained hearing thresholds across the octave frequencies 0.5 to 8 kHz, primarily for individuals in the - 10 to 55 dB HL range. Other NSRT results are linked to analyses of phonetic errors and components of aural rehabilitation. Among its numerous results, the NSRT yields quantitative predictions of frequency-specific hearing thresholds, provides insight into the phonetic errors that affect speech understanding in adults who suffer from sensorineural hearing loss, primarily in the - 10 to 55 dB HL range, and has implications for the design of individualized auditory training programs.