Determination of speech-based hearing thresholds - correlations of hearing loss for speech and the pure tone audiometry

Introduction Only the Göttinger sentence test (GöSA) in quiet and the Freiburger speech test (FST) with syllables (HL_Speech) can currently be used in german-speaking areas in order to obtain a conclusion about the pure tone audiometry (PTA) by using results of a speech test. But is this also possible with other tests with regard to pediatric audiology?

Material and methods Normal hearing and healthy subjects (10 ?, 2 ?, age: 20-33 years, median: 23 years) participated in the study. The mean PTA4 at 0.5, 1, 2, 4 kHz is -2.9 dB HL. The speech audiometry took place in quiet and was performed first in normal hearing condition and then with a simulated unilateral conductive hearing loss (cHL), by using an earplug. The FST syllables, FST monosyllables and the Oldenburger sentence test (OLSA) were tested. The pediatric audiology tests (Frequency specific Animal Soundtest (mFast) and the Adaptive Auditive Speech Test (AAST)) were applied analogously to the FST syllables. Here, the level for 50% understanding (SRT_quiet) was determined.

Results The median of the PTA4 (31.9dB HL) by using an earplug shows a cHL. The HL_Speech increased from -2.0 dB unplugged to 30.3 dB plugged. The OLSA in quiet also shows a difference of +3.7 dB. By using the mFAST HL_Speech increased from -3.2 dB unplugged to 31.1 dB plugged and the AAST in quiet shows a difference of +35.0 dB.

Conclusion A correlation of the results with the PTA is clearly visible, especially when children's audiometry tests are used in comparison to the PTA4_plugged (maximum deviation < 2dB).

A continuation of the study (with adults and also with children) is additionally planned with the Oldenburger sentence test for children (OLKISA) and the GöSA in order to obtain a larger number of subjects and a higher significance.

Poster-PDF A-1716.PDF