Telephone screening test for hearing using three-digit sequences in noise.

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目将开发一种噪音中的语音识别测试（SRTn），用作听力残疾的筛查测试，适合通过电话进行。成功开发和实施这种测试有可能大大提高对听力障碍的认识，并增加寻求服务的听力障碍者的人数。该测试将基于荷兰过去四年来一直使用的国家听力测试。开发该测试的科学家，以及随后与英国科学家协商开发英语版本（现在也在使用）的科学家，已同意参与开发使用中美洲方言的语音材料的测试版本。该测试采用了三个单音节数字的口语序列，在背景噪声中呈现语音形状的频谱。阈值由自适应跟踪过程确定。这个测试，由家庭电话管理，已被证明是强烈相关的平均纯音阈值，甚至更强烈的噪音中的句子识别。三位数的电话测试的灵敏度和选择性作为一个措施的临床显着的听力残疾分别为0.91和0.93，残疾定义的表现在噪音中的句子识别。在荷兰推出的第一年，就有超过10万人选择参加这项测试。这意味着接受听力测试的听力受损者的总比例大幅增加（历史上，美国只有五分之一）。美国版的测试将被开发出来，使用三位数的序列记录的母语为美国中部英语。然后，将通过电话确定一组约50名听力受损者和20名听力正常者的听力阈值，使用自适应跟踪程序。纯音阈值和标准化的语音识别测试管理这些相同的听众将被用来确定是否在电话测试和在诊所获得的措施之间的高度相关性，如在荷兰，也可以实现与美国版本的这个测试。将确定测试的灵敏度和选择性值，以识别具有临床意义的纯音丧失的人和噪声中言语辨别力降低的人。据估计，2800万美国公民有听力受损，其中约一半年龄在50岁以下（NIDCD，1996）。在美国成功实施这样的测试可以大大提高对听力障碍的认识，以及从助听器和其他治疗中受益的人数。 公共卫生相关性：该项目的目标是开发和验证一种基于电话的听力受损筛查测试，以荷兰和联合王国目前使用的非常成功的国家听力测试为模型。据估计，在美国2800万听力受损的人中，大约有80%的人从未接受过听力测试。一个便宜，可靠，非常方便的测试很可能是许多人谁怀疑他们有听力受损，但不愿意去看听力专业人士进行测试。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will develop a speech-recognition test in noise (SRTn) for use as a screening test for hearing disability, suitable for delivery over the telephone. Successful development and implementation of such a test has the potential to greatly increase awareness of hearing disorders and the numbers of persons with hearing impairment who seek services. The test will be based on the National Hearing Test that has been used for the past four years in the Netherlands. The scientists who developed that test, and who subsequently consulted with UK scientists in developing an English version (also now in use), have agreed to participate in the development of a version of the test with speech materials spoken in a Middle American dialect. The test employs spoken sequences of three single-syllable digits, presented in a background noise with a speech-shaped spectrum. The threshold is determined by an adaptive tracking procedure. This test, administered by home telephone, has been shown to be strongly correlated with average pure-tone thresholds and even more strongly with sentence recognition in noise. The sensitivity and selectivity of the three-digit telephone test as a measure of clinically significant hearing disability were 0.91 and 0.93, respectively, for disability defined by performance on sentence recognition in noise. In the first year of its availability in the Netherlands over 100,000 people elected to take this test. This represented a large increase in the total proportion of hearing-impaired persons who have had a hearing test (historically, only one in five in the US). The US version of the test will be developed, using three-digit sequences recorded by a native speaker of Middle American English. Thresholds will then be determined by telephone, for a set of approximately 50 hearing impaired and 20 normal hearing persons, using an adaptive tracking procedure. Pure-tone thresholds and standardized speech discrimination tests administered to these same listeners will be used to determine whether the high correlations between the telephone test and measures obtained in the clinic, as found in the Netherlands, can also be achieved with a US version of this test. Sensitivity and selectivity values for the test will be determined for the identification of persons with clinically significant pure-tone loss and for those with reduced speech discrimination in noise. An estimated 28 million US citizens have impaired hearing, and approximately half of them are under age 50 (NIDCD, 1996). Successful implementation of such a test in the US could greatly increase both the awareness of hearing disorders and the numbers of persons benefitting from hearing aids and other treatments. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal of this project is to develop and validate a telephone-based screening test for impaired hearing, modeled after the highly successful National Hearing Tests currently in use in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It is estimated that roughly 80% of the 28 million hearing-impaired persons in the US who could benefit from hearing aids have never had their hearing tested. An inexpensive, reliable, and extremely convenient test is likely to be taken by many people who suspect that they have impaired hearing but have hesitated to visit a hearing professional for testing.