The current state of consumer-grade electronics means that researchers, clinicians, students, and members of the general public across the globe can create high-quality auditory stimuli using tablet computers, built-in sound hardware, and calibrated consumer-grade headphones. Our laboratories have created a free application that supports this work: PART (Portable Automated Rapid Testing). PART has implemented a range of psychoacoustical tasks including: spatial release from speech-on-speech masking, binaural sensitivity, gap discrimination, temporal modulation, spectral modulation, and spectrotemporal modulation (STM). Here, data from the spatial release and STM tasks are presented. Data were collected across the globe on tablet computers using applications available for free download, built-in sound hardware, and calibrated consumer-grade headphones. Spatial release results were as good or better than those obtained with standard laboratory methods. Spectrotemporal modulation thresholds were obtained rapidly and, for younger normal hearing listeners, were also as good or better than those in the literature. For older hearing impaired listeners, rapid testing resulted in similar thresholds to those reported in the literature. Listeners at five different testing sites produced very similar STM thresholds, despite a variety of testing conditions and calibration routines. Download Spatial Release, PART, and Listen: An Auditory Training Experience for free at https://bgc.ucr.edu/games/.

In light of the high prevalence of hearing loss and cognitive impairment in the aging population, it is important to know how cognitive tests should be administered for older adults with hearing loss. The purpose of the present study is to examine this question with a cognitive screening test and a working memory test. Specifically, we asked the following questions in 2 experiments. First, does a controlled amplification method affect cognitive test scores? Second, does test modality (visual vs. auditory) impact cognitive test scores? Three test administration conditions were created for both Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and working memory test (a word recognition and recall test): auditory amplified, auditory unamplified, and visual. The auditory administration was implemented through a computer program to control for presentation level while the visual condition was implemented through timed computer slides. Data were collected from older individuals with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss. We did not find any effect of amplification or test modality on the total score of the cognitive screening test (i.e., MoCA). Amplification improved working memory performance as measured by word recall performance, but test modality (auditory vs. visual) did not. These results are consistent with literature in demonstrating a downstream effect of audibility on working memory performance. From a clinical perspective, these findings are informative for developing clinical administration protocols of these tests for older individuals with hearing loss.

This presentation will focus on data collected across the globe on tablet computers using applications available for free download, built-in sound hardware, and calibrated consumer-grade headphones. Tests involve spatial release from speech-on-speech masking, binaural sensitivity, gap discrimination, temporal modulation, spectral modulation, and spectrotemporal modulation. The data will be compared across sites and with data from the published literature. The similarity of the obtained data to the expected values and the consistency across sites will help evaluate the potential of this relatively inexpensive and easily disseminated approach to psychoacoustical data collection. The extent to which valid performance can be obtained is a metric of the possibility that in the future such test methods could be used by researchers without access to a full laboratory, clinicians interested in evaluating auditory function beyond the audiogram, and students as part of their training, as well as many other uses not yet imagined.