Reliability of recognition thresholds of sentences in quiet and in noise

Abstract

SummaryA larger number of research studies has been performed with different people and objectives and have shown that the sentence recognition test in noise is the best instrument to evaluate individuals’ daily communication. However, we believe these tests are not applied so frequently because they require a lot of research to establish the parameters and variables related to their application and interpretation of the results. Aim: To check the reliability of the recognition threshold of the sentences in quiet and in noise for a group of young normal listeners. Study design: transversal cohort. Material and Method: The group comprised 40 subjects, 20 males and 20 females, with ages between 18 and 28 and all of them with normal hearing threshold. First, we applied the Basic Audiological Evaluation and after this, the Sentence Recognition Threshold test in quiet (LRSS) and in noise (LRSR). The sentences and the noise (fixed in 65 dB HL) were presented monoaurally, by earphones through “ascending-descending” strategy. The test and retest were done in different evaluation sessions, with an interval of seven days between them, respecting the same hour of evaluation. Results: The results showed strong positive statistically significant correlation between the test and retest of LRSS, both for right ear (r = 0.6107) and left ear (r = 0.5853), as S/N ratio, for right ear (r = 0.5711) and for left ear (r = 0.5867) for the assessed individuals. Conclusion: In the end of this study, we concluded that LRSS and S/N ratio obtained from the Portuguese Sentence List Test showed to be highly reliable, with strong positive correlation when compared to the results obtained in different sessions of evaluation in a group of young normal listeners.