Development of the Persian Listening in Spatialized Noise Sentence Test: A Preliminary Study

Zahra Hosseini  Dastgerdi; Nasrin  Gohari; Abbas  Yousefi; Nematollah  Rouhbakhsh

doi:10.18502/avr.v34i2.18055

Zahra Hosseini Dastgerdi Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Nasrin Gohari Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
Abbas Yousefi Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Nematollah Rouhbakhsh Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/avr.v34i2.18055

Abstract

Background and Aim: Listening in Spatialized Noise Sentence (LiSN-S) is one of the auditory processing disorder test battery that specifically diagnose spatial processing disorders. This research aimed to develop The Persian version of the LiSN-S, for assessing auditory processing disorders in the Persian speakers’ population.

Methods: The PLiSN-S test was developed based on its original Australian version. The speech stimuli were convolved with Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) to generate speech in the presence of spatialized noise. In total, 120 target sentences (consisting of five 1-3-syllable words) and competing stories were presented in four conditions. These included the Same Voice co-located condition (SV0°), Different Voice co-located condition (DV0°), Same Voice separated condition (SV±90°), and Different Voice separated condition (DV±90°). Then, data from 30 adults aged 18–23 with normal hearing were obtained.

Results: The results from the normal-hearing subjects showed that the Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) scores, expressed as Signal to Noise Ratios (SNR), varied across the four conditions (SV0°, DV0° SV±90°, DV±90°) the highest and lowest SRTs belonged to the first and last conditions, respectively. The amount of advantage in all conditions was lower than in the previously published English versions.

Conclusion: Considering the impact of spatial separation on the SRTs, PLiSN-S appears to be an effective tool for measuring spatial processing skills.

Keywords: Auditory stream segregation; spatial hearing; speech in noise