Efficient Adaptive Methods for Measuring Speech Reception Threshold in Quiet and in Noise

An adaptive method for measuring speech reception threshold in noise (S/N-threshold) was evaluated with regard to reliability and learning effect. A corresponding method was also tested for speech reception threshold in quiet (SRT). The methods are designed for use with a speech and noise material developed by Hagerman (1982a). Ten normal-hearing subjects and 40 hearing-impaired subjects were tested, the results showing that the test-retest reliability of the S/N-threshold was much better with the new, adaptive, method than with the old one, which was not adaptive. With the new method, a S/N-threshold can be measured within two minutes for most patients (after the initial short training) with a reliability, i.e. standard deviation, of 0.78 dB and a learning effect that is negligible for most subjects if one training list is presented before the test session. It was also concluded that the adaptive method designed for the sentences in quiet gives at least as reliable an SRT result as the old spondée method (including learning effects), but in a shorter time.