Auditory recognition of Persian digits in presence of speech-spectrum noise and multi-talker babble: a validation study
Abstract
Background and Aim: Digits are suitable speech materials for evaluating recognition of speech-in-noise in clients with the wide range of language abilities. Farsi Auditory Recognition of Digit-in-Noise (FARDIN) test has been developed and validated in learning-disabled children showing dichotic listening deficit. This study was conducted for further validation of FARDIN and to survey the effects of noise type on the recognition performance in individuals with sensory-neural hearing impairment.
Methods: Persian monosyllabic digits 1−10 were extracted from the audio file of FARDIN test. Ten lists were compiled using a random order of the triplets. The first five lists were mixed with multi-talker babble noise (MTBN) and the second five lists with speech-spectrum noise (SSN). Signal- to- noise ratio (SNR) varied from +5 to −15 in 5 dB steps. 20 normal hearing and 19 hearing-impaired individuals participated in the current study.
Results: Both types of noise could differentiate the hearing loss from normal hearing. Hearing-impaired group showed weaker performance for digit recognition in MTBN and SSN and needed 4−5.6 dB higher SNR (50%), compared to
the normal hearing group. MTBN was more challenging for normal hearing than SSN.
Conclusion: Farsi Auditory Recognition of Digit-in-Noise is a validated test for estimating SNR (50%) in clients with hearing loss. It seems SSN is more appropriate for using as a background noise for testing the performance of auditory recognition of digit-in-noise.
Keywords: Auditory recognition; hearing loss; speech perception in noise; digit recognition in noise
