The relationship between speech recognition in noise and non-speech recognition in noise test performances: Implications for central auditory processing disorders testing.

BACKGROUND: According to the American Academy of Audiology, a recommendation for frequency-modulation systems may be based upon performances on speech perception tests that do not include background noise.

PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the presumption that non-speech recognition in noise test results are related to speech recognition in noise ability for a group of young adults.

RESEARCH DESIGN: Performances on the non-speech recognition in noise tests included in the SCAN-3:A test battery were compared to speech recognition in noise performances as measured with the auditory figure ground subtest of the SCAN-3:A and the Hearing in Noise Test.

STUDY SAMPLE: Fifty-four young, native speakers of American English with normal pure-tone thresholds participated in the study.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: For the purposes of this study, the SCAN-3:A raw scores were used. The Hearing in Noise Test was administered in a simulated soundfield environment under headphones. The Spearman rho statistic was used to determine the relationships between non-speech recognition in noise vs. speech recognition in noise test results.

RESULTS: No significant relationships were found between the auditory figure-ground results and any of the non-speech recognition in noise subtest performances. Modest but statistically significant relationships were found between the Hearing in Noise Test Composite scores vs. the competing words-directed ear and the time compressed sentences subtests of the SCAN-3:A.

CONCLUSION: Of the four non-speech recognition in noise subtests that were evaluated, only the competing words-directed ear and the time-compressed sentences performances were significantly correlated to the Composite scores of the Hearing in Noise Test. The results demonstrated a limited external validity for two of the four non-SRN tests for the determination of SRN ability.