Developing a remotely deliverable digit triplet in noise test for detecting high frequency hearing loss

Abstract

The prevalence of late-diagnosed or often unrecognized hearing loss (HL) is higher in developing countries due to the lack of access to hearing health care services. Due to the importance of hearing screening tests in early diagnosis of HL, development of remotely deliverable screening tests that can detect HL reliably, quickly, and easily provides significant benefits, specifically for underserved population. The purpose of this research is to refine the established English digit triplet test (DTT) to improve detection of high-frequency HL. The sensitivity and specificity of the DTT for detecting high frequency HL will be analyzed for low-pass filtered speech-shaped noise with three different cut-off frequencies (2 kHz, 4 kHz, and 8 kHz). The current study will also replicate previous work showing that speech reception thresholds estimated from the DTT correlate highly with listeners’ pure tone average audiometry. This research should improve the accuracy of convenient, efficient tools for diagnosing HL for millions of people who have limited access to hearing health care.