The Callsign Acquisition Test (CAT) is a speech intelligibility test developed by the US Army Research Laboratory. The test has been used to evaluate speech transmission through various communication systems but has not been yet sufficiently standardised and validated. The aim of this study was to compare CAT and Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) performance in the presence of white noise across a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). A group of 16 normal-hearing listeners participated in the study. The speech items were presented at 65 dB(A) in the background of white noise at SNRs of -18, -15, -12, -9 and -6 dB. The results showed a strong positive association (75.14%) between the two tests, but significant differences between the CAT and MRT absolute scores in the range of investigated SNRs. Based on the data, a function to predict CAT scores based on existing MRT scores and vice versa was formulated. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: This work compares performance data of a common speech intelligibility test (MRT) with a new test (CAT) in the presence of white noise. The results here can be used as a part of the standardisation procedures and provide insights to the predictive capabilities of the CAT to quantify speech intelligibility communication in high-noise military environments.

This study sought to evaluate the effect of speech intensity on performance of the Callsign Acquisition Test (CAT) and Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) presented in noise. Fourteen normally hearing listeners performed both tests in 65 dB A white background noise. Speech intensity varied while background noise remained constant to form speech-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of −18, −15, −12, −9, and −6 dB. Results showed that CAT recognition scores were significantly higher than MRT scores at the same SNRs; however, the scores from both tests were highly correlated and their relationship for the SNRs tested can be expressed by a simple linear function. The concept of CAT can be easily ported to other languages for testing speech communication under adverse listening conditions.