This paper describes a shortened and improved version of the Speech in Noise (SIN) Test (Etymotic Research, 1993). In the first two of four experiments, the level of a female talker relative to that of four-talker babble was adjusted sentence by sentence to produce 50% correct scores for normal-hearing subjects. In the second two experiments, those sentences-in-babble that produced either lack of equivalence or high across-subject variability in scores were discarded. These experiments produced 12 equivalent lists, each containing six sentences, with one sentence at each adjusted signal-to-noise ratio of 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, and 0 dB. Six additional lists were also made equivalent when the scores of particular pairs were averaged. The final lists comprise the "QuickSIN" test that measures the SNR a listener requires to understand 50% of key words in sentences in a background of babble. The standard deviation of single-list scores is 1.4 dB SNR for hearing-impaired subjects, based on test-retest data. A single QuickSIN list takes approximately one minute to administer and provides an estimate of SNR loss accurate to +/-2.7 dB at the 95% confidence level.

No abstract

The evolution of two new speech-in-noise tests is described, with particular emphasis on obtaining equivalency across lists. The Quick SIN Test uses IEEE sentences with female talker (L. Braida, personal communication on Harvard Phonetically Balanced Sentences developed at Harvard University during WWII, 2000); the BKB Test uses British Childrens sentences with male talker (Jon Shallop) [J. Bench and J. Bamford (eds.), Speech-Hearing Tests and the Spoken Language of Hearing-Impaired Children (Academic, London, 1979)]. In both cases, the Auditec of St. Louis four-talker babble recording was used to provide competing noise, and SNR-50 (signal-to-noise ratio for 50% correct key words in sentences) was estimated using the Tillman–Olsen recommendation [T. W. Tillman and W. O. Olsen, Modern Developments in Audiology, 2nd ed. (Academic, New York, 1973), pp. 37–74]. Normal-subject testing as well as hearing-impaired and cochlear-implant subject testing was used to check for equivalency across a range of signal-to-noise ratio performances. The standard deviation for single and multiple lists will be reported.

No abstract

No abstract