Development and evaluation of the British English coordinate response measure speech-in-noise test as an occupational hearing assessment tool

Abstract

Objective: The studies described in this article outline the design and development of a British English version of the coordinate response measure (CRM) speech-in-noise (SiN) test. Our interest in the CRM is as a SiN test with high face validity for occupational auditory fitness for duty (AFFD) assessment. Design: Study 1 used the method of constant stimuli to measure and adjust the psychometric functions of each target word, producing a speech corpus with equal intelligibility. After ensuring all the target words had similar intelligibility, for Studies 2 and 3, the CRM was presented in an adaptive procedure in stationary speech-spectrum noise to measure speech reception thresholds and evaluate the test–retest reliability of the CRM SiN test. Study sample: Studies 1 (n = 20) and 2 (n = 30) were completed by normal-hearing civilians. Study 3 (n = 22) was completed by hearing impaired military personnel. Results: The results display good test–retest reliability (95% confidence interval (CI) < 2.1 dB) and concurrent validity when compared to the triple-digit test (r ≤ 0.65), and the CRM is sensitive to hearing impairment. Conclusion: The British English CRM using stationary speech-spectrum noise is a “ready to use” SiN test, suitable for investigation as an AFFD assessment tool for military personnel.