Abstract
Objective For patients who have received cochlear implants (CIs), speech-perception testing
requires specialized equipment. This limits locations where these services can be
provided, which can introduce barriers for provision of care. Providing speech test
stimuli directly to the CI via wireless digital audio streaming (DAS) or wired direct
audio input (DAI) allows for testing without the need for a sound booth (SB). A few
studies have investigated the use of DAI for testing speech perception in CIs, but
none have evaluated DAS. The goal of this study was to compare speech perception testing
in CI users via DAS versus a traditional SB to determine if differences exist between
the two presentation modes. We also sought to determine whether pre-processing the
DAS signal with room acoustics (reverberation and noise floor) to emulate the SB environment
would affect performance differences between the SB and DAS.
Design In Experiment 1, speech perception was measured for monosyllabic words in quiet and
sentences in quiet and in noise. Scores were obtained in a SB and compared to those
obtained via DAS with unprocessed speech (DAS-U) for 11 adult CI users (12 ears).
In Experiment 2, speech perception was measured for sentences in noise, where both
the speech and noise stimuli were pre-processed to emulate the SB environment. Scores
were obtained for 11 adult CI users (12 ears) in the SB, via DAS-U, and via DAS with
the processed speech (DAS-P).
Results For Experiment 1, there was no significant difference between SB and DAS-U conditions
for words or sentences in quiet. However, DAS-U scores were significantly better than
SB scores for sentences in noise. For Experiment 2, there was no significant difference
between the SB and DAS-P conditions. Similar to Experiment 1, DAS-U scores were significantly
better than SB or DAS-P scores.
Conclusions By pre-processing the test materials to emulate the noise and reverberation characteristics
of a traditional SB, we can account for differences in speech-perception scores between
those obtained via DAS and in a SB.
Keywords
cochlear implant - direct audio input - speech perception - wireless streaming - sound
booth
