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

描述(由申请者提供)：该项目将开发一种噪声中的语音识别测试(SRTn)，作为听力障碍的筛查测试，适合通过电话交付。这种测试的成功开发和实施有可能极大地提高人们对听力障碍的认识和寻求服务的听力障碍患者的数量。这项测试将基于荷兰过去四年一直使用的国家听力测试。开发这项测试的科学家随后咨询了英国科学家，开发了英语版本(现在也在使用)，他们已经同意参与测试版本的开发，使用的是一种中美方言的语音材料。这项测试使用了三个单音节数字的口语序列，呈现在带有语音形状频谱的背景噪声中。该阈值由自适应跟踪过程确定。这项由家庭电话进行的测试已被证明与平均纯音阈值有很强的相关性，甚至与噪音中的句子识别有更强的相关性。三位数电话测验作为临床上有意义的听力障碍的测量方法，其灵敏度和选择性分别为0.91和0.93，以在噪声中识别句子的能力为标准。在荷兰推出这项测试的第一年，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障人士的总比例大幅增加(从历史上看，美国只有五分之一)。美国版的测试将被开发，使用由一位以中美英语为母语的人记录的三位数序列。然后，将使用自适应跟踪程序，通过电话确定一组大约50名听力障碍者和20名正常听力者的阈值。对这些听众进行的纯音阈值和标准化言语辨别测试将被用来确定电话测试与临床测试之间的高度相关性，就像在荷兰发现的那样，是否也可以在美国版本的这种测试中实现。该测试的灵敏度和选择性值将被确定用于识别临床上有显著纯音损失的人和那些在噪声中语音辨别力降低的人。据估计，有2800万美国公民听力受损，其中约一半在50岁以下(NIDCD，1996)。在美国成功实施这样的测试可以极大地提高人们对听力障碍的认识，并使受益于助听器和其他治疗的人数大大增加。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，该测试仿照荷兰和英国目前非常成功的国家听力测试。据估计，在美国2800万可能受益于助听器的听力障碍者中，大约80%的人从未接受过听力测试。一种廉价、可靠和极其方便的测试可能会被许多人接受，他们怀疑自己听力受损，但又不愿去找听力专家进行测试。

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.