Time-compressed Speech Test Research Articles

Central Auditory Functions of Alzheimer's Disease and Its Preclinical Stages: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

In 2020, 55 million people worldwide were living with dementia, and this number is projected to reach 139 million in 2050. However, approximately 75% of people living with dementia have not received a formal diagnosis. Hence, they do not have access to treatment and care. Without effective treatment in the foreseeable future, it is essential to focus on modifiable risk factors and early intervention. Central auditory processing is impaired in people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and its preclinical stages and may manifest many years before clinical diagnosis. This study systematically reviewed central auditory processing function in AD and its preclinical stages using behavioural central auditory processing tests. Eleven studies met the full inclusion criteria, and seven were included in the meta-analyses. The results revealed that those with mild cognitive impairment perform significantly worse than healthy controls within channel adaptive tests of temporal response (ATTR), time-compressed speech test (TCS), Dichotic Digits Test (DDT), Dichotic Sentence Identification (DSI), Speech in Noise (SPIN), and Synthetic Sentence Identification-Ipsilateral Competing Message (SSI-ICM) central auditory processing tests. In addition, this analysis indicates that participants with AD performed significantly worse than healthy controls in DDT, DSI, and SSI-ICM tasks. Clinical implications are discussed in detail.

Time-compressed speech test in adults with and without central auditory processing disorders

ABSTRACT Purpose: to analyze and compare the performance in the time-compressed speech test and the auditory behavior of adults with and without central auditory processing disorders. Methods: an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study with a total of 40 people of both genders aged 18 to 35 years participating in the study. They were submitted to anamnesis, basic audiological assessment, and a core battery of tests for central auditory processing - including the dichotic digits test (binaural integration), frequency pattern test, and time-compressed speech test (TCST). Based on the results of the dichotic digits and frequency pattern tests, the subjects were divided into two groups, with and without central auditory processing disorders. The auditory behavior was assessed with the Scale of Auditory Behavior (SAB) questionnaire. The Mann-Whitney and Fisher’s exact tests were used for the statistical analysis, setting the significance level at p < 0.05. Results: no difference in performance was found between the groups regarding the ears. There was a difference between the groups only in the time-compressed speech test with monosyllable stimuli in the left ear (p = 0.026). Monosyllables were the words that resulted in most errors. Conclusion: it was verified that only the list of stimuli influenced the performance, differing the individuals with and without central auditory processing disorders. There was an association of auditory behavior, analyzed with the SAB questionnaire, with the performance in the TCST with the list of monosyllables. It is suggested that this list be used when assessing adults by the time-compressed speech test.

Reference values for psychoacoustic tests on Polish school children 7-10 years old.

BackgroundGood hearing is a fundamental skill that allows children to develop properly, both socially and intellectually. In contrast to defects in inner ear function, however, auditory processing disorders (APDs)–which can affect up to 2–3% of school-children–are not easily identified with basic screening programs and must be diagnosed using special tests. Although such psychoacoustic tests are available, the scores achieved depend highly on the social, cultural, and linguistic characteristics of the population, and norms must be established for each population separately. Reference values are still lacking for the Polish population, especially for children in school-age, so that practitioners must interpret test scores themselves, often intuitively or using potentially biased thresholds from other countries.Materials and methodsWe investigated a sample of 94 Polish schoolchildren with normal hearing, divided into four age groups: from 7 years-olds to 10 years-olds. All children had no speech or language development disorder, learning problem, or symptom of APD. Participants were volunteers who had previously taken part in a large screening study. The group consisted of 56 girls (60%) and 38 boys (40%) with an average age of 8.6 years (SD = 1.1). The test battery included the Duration Pattern Test (DPT), Frequency Pattern Test (FPT), Time-Compressed Speech Test (CST), and Dichotic Digit Test (DDT).ResultsThe scores on all tests increased consistently with age. The difference between each age-group for DPT, CST, and left- and right-ear DDT tests was significant (Kruskal–Wallis test, p-values = 0.002, 0.006, 0.005, 0.020, respectively), but the effect of age on the FPT test was not (p-value = 0.143). The analysis showed a clear and significant separation between a merged group of ages 7 and 8 and another of ages 9 and 10. We, therefore, propose, for each test, separate reference values for these two particular age-groups. Using thresholds based on a 10% quantile, we offer the following reference values for ages 7–8 and 9–10 respectively: DPT, 28.5% and 53.8%; FPT, 18.5% and 27.5%; CST, 68.6% and 77.2%; left-ear DDT, 34.3% and 52.5%; right-ear DDT, 56% and 72.5%.ConclusionThe scores on psychoacoustic tests to diagnose APD differ between cultures and linguistic backgrounds. Clinicians should, therefore, use norms that have been designed for the population most similar to their patients. Here, we report the use of a test battery designed for the Polish language that accounts for various aspects of APD when screening school children. Together with a full methodology of those tests, we provide norms that can be used as cut-offs in clinical diagnosis. Practitioners are invited to use them to obtain more accurate, evidence-based decisions.

The study of responses to auditory processing tests in the elderly

ABSTRACT Objective: to generate reference values for different central auditory processing tests, investigating the influence of peripheral hearing and considering education and cognition, in the elderly. Methods: a prospective, quantitative and cross-sectional study. The casuistry consisted of 23 elderly, aged between 60 and 81 years old, being 8 men and 14 women. Regarding the audiological characteristics, the elderly were included with normal auditory thresholds or mild and moderate sensorineural hearing loss, classified by the quadritonal average, proposed by the World Health Organization. All elderly underwent Basic Audiological Evaluation, Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, Mini Mental State Examination, and seven central auditory behavioral tests. Statistical analysis was performed using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test. Results: the Adapted Time-Compressed Speech Test was influenced by the peripheral hearing loss, in both ears (p-value = 0,000), and no significant differences were found in the other data analyzed. Conclusion: reference values were generated for the different behavioral tests. Hearing loss influenced the results of the Adapted Time-Compressed Speech Test, suggesting that it should not be applied in the elderly with peripheral alteration. Regarding education and cognition, there was a similarity among the elderly with normal hearing thresholds and those presented with hearing loss.

Ongoing maturation in the time-compressed speech test

OBJECTIVES:To verify the neuromaturational influence in the ability of auditory closure, that is, to verify the performance of children and young adults in the ability of auditory closure, through the time compressed speech test (TCS).METHODS:Thirty children (8 to 10 years old) and 30 young adults (16 to 24 years old) with normal hearing without complaints (neurological, cognitive, auditory processing) who performed TFC (monosyllables and disyllables) with a compression ratio of 60% in both ears. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and ANOVA with repeated measures with a significance level of 0.05. The minimum statistical power was 80%.RESULTS:In the comparison between ears, there was no significant difference between groups for the monosyllables. For disyllables, the second ear tested was better in children, and the right ear was better than the left ear for young adults. In the comparison between modalities (monosyllables and disyllables), children did not show significant differences. The performance of the young adults was better in the disyllables in both ears. Comparing the age groups, the young adults were better than the children for both modalities and ears.CONCLUSION:The study has demonstrated the influence and impact of age (maturational factor) on TCS test performance, showing the importance of establishing normality patterns for various age groups to provide a standardized tool for evaluation of auditory closure ability.

Effect of auditory temporal processing training on behavioral and electrophysiological functions in central presbycusis

ObjectiveAge-related changes in the central auditory system, particularly auditory temporal processing abilities, were considered among most important factors affecting speech understanding performance in older adults. Once these factors are identified, clinical management procedures could be developed for prevention and treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of short-term auditory training on the behavioral and electrophysiological measurements of auditory function in individuals with age-related temporal processing deficit.Participants and methodsA prospective study of 20 individuals aged 60–67 years with either normal or bilateral symmetric high-frequency hearing loss was conducted. Evaluations of auditory temporal processing using behavioral tests (Pitch Discrimination Test, Pitch Pattern Sequence Test, Auditory Fusion Test-Revised, and Time Compressed Speech Test), P300 potential, and the administration of ‘Amsterdam inventory for auditory disability and handicap’ were performed before and after short-term auditory training.ResultsAll participants demonstrated poor pretraining Pitch Pattern Sequence Test results which were significantly improved after remediation. All patients showed normal pretraining performance on Pitch Discrimination Test, Auditory Fusion Test-Revised, and Time Compressed Speech Test tests. There was a statistically significant increase in P300 amplitude and shortening in latency after remediation.ConclusionShort-term auditory training in older adults with auditory temporal processing deficit led to improvements in temporal sequencing skills and communication in noisy environments. P300 potential has been proved to be an objective indicator of neurophysiologic changes in the central auditory system resulting from auditory experience.RecommendationShort-term auditory training is an efficient rehabilitative tool for elderly people with auditory temporal processing deficit. However, maintenance of treatment effects over time should be evaluated.

Study on the application of the time-compressed speech in children.

To analyze the performance of children without alteration of central auditory processing in the Time-compressed Speech Test. This is a descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study. Study participants were 22 children aged 7-11 years without central auditory processing disorders. The following instruments were used to assess whether these children presented central auditory processing disorders: Scale of Auditory Behaviors, simplified evaluation of central auditory processing, and Dichotic Test of Digits (binaural integration stage). The Time-compressed Speech Test was applied to the children without auditory changes. The participants presented better performance in the list of monosyllabic words than in the list of disyllabic words, but with no statistically significant difference. No influence on test performance was observed with respect to order of presentation of the lists and the variables gender and ear. Regarding age, difference in performance was observed only in the list of disyllabic words. The mean score of children in the Time-compressed Speech Test was lower than that of adults reported in the national literature. Difference in test performance was observed only with respect to the age variable for the list of disyllabic words. No difference was observed in the order of presentation of the lists or in the type of stimulus.

Time-compressed speech test in the elderly.

The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of elderly people in the time-compressed speech test according to the variables ears and order of display, and analyze the types of errors presented by the volunteers. This is an observational, descriptive, quantitative, analytical and primary cross-sectional study involving 22 elderly with normal hearing or mild sensorineural hearing loss between the ages of 60 and 80. The elderly were submitted to the time-compressed speech test with compression ratio of 60%, through the electromechanical time compression method. A list of 50 disyllables was applied to each ear and the initial side was chosen at random. On what concerns to the performance in the test, the elderly fell short in relation to the adults and there was no statistical difference between the ears. It was found statistical evidence of better performance for the second ear in the test. The most mistaken words were the ones initiated with the phonemes /p/ and /d/. The presence of consonant combination in a word also increased the occurrence of mistakes. The elderly have worse performance in the auditory closure ability when assessed by the time-compressed speech test compared to adults. This result suggests that elderly people have difficulty in recognizing speech when this is pronounced in faster rates. Therefore, strategies must be used to facilitate the communicative process, regardless the presence of hearing loss.

Test–retest reliability of Kannada time-compressed speech test and time-compressed monosyllables test

Objective: The study attempts to determine the test–retest reliability for time-compressed phonemically balanced (PB) words in Kannada and monosyllables across different compression ratios.Study design: The study was carried out on 30 normal hearing individuals, 15 males and 15 females. The PB words were time-compressed at 50%, 60% and 70% compression ratios and monosyllables were time-compressed at 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% compression ratios. The compressed material was administered three times (baseline, after 15 min break and after 1 week) at all the compression ratios for PB words and monosyllables.Results: The results of the study show that scores were higher for monosyllables at high compression ratios. The scores were more reliable at 60% compression ratio for both monosyllables and PB words. The study also shows that the reliability of the test does not vary across gender.Conclusion: The study recommends using 60% compression ratio for PB words and monosyllables while testing a clinical population.

The development and standardization of Self-assessment for Hearing Screening of the Elderly.

PurposeThe present study aimed to develop and standardize a screening tool for elderly people who wish to check for themselves their level of hearing loss.MethodsThe Self-assessment for Hearing Screening of the Elderly (SHSE) consisted of 20 questions based on the characteristics of presbycusis using a five-point scale: seven questions covered general issues related to sensorineural hearing loss, seven covered hearing difficulty under distracting listening conditions, two covered hearing difficulty with fast-rated speech, and four covered the working memory function during communication. To standardize SHSE, 83 elderly participants took part in the study: 25 with normal hearing, and 22, 23, and 13 with mild, moderate, and moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss, respectively, according to their hearing sensitivity. All were retested 3 weeks later using the same questionnaire to confirm its reliability. In addition, validity was assessed using various hearing tests such as a sentence test with background noise, a time-compressed speech test, and a digit span test.ResultsSHSE and its subcategories showed good internal consistency. SHSE and its subcategories demonstrated high test–retest reliability. A high correlation was observed between the total scores and pure-tone thresholds, which indicated gradually increased SHSE scores of 42.24%, 55.27%, 66.61%, and 78.15% for normal hearing, mild, moderate, and moderate-to-severe groups, respectively. With regard to construct validity, SHSE showed a high negative correlation with speech perception scores in noise and a moderate negative correlation with scores of time-compressed speech perception. However, there was no statistical correlation between digit span results and either the SHSE total or its subcategories. A confirmatory factor analysis supported three factors in SHSE.ConclusionWe found that the developed SHSE had valuable internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and convergent and construct validity. These results suggest that SHSE is a reliable and valid measure to represent the degree of hearing loss in the elderly.

KSZTAŁTOWANIE SIĘ PRZETWARZANIA STRUKTURY CZASOWEJ SYGNAŁU U DZIECI: POMIARY PRZY UŻYCIU BODŹCÓW WERBALNYCH I NIEWERBALNYCH

BackgroundAuditory temporal processing is the ability of the nervous system to detect small variations in the duration of an acoustic stimuli. A substantial body of research is available on the development of various temporal skills, but temporal resolution abilities have not been well investigated in terms of speech and non-speech stimuli. The present study investigates the development of temporal resolution abilities in children.Material and MethodsA normative cross-sectional research design was adopted by administering a set of psychoacoustic tests involving both speech and non-speech stimuli. Six groups of 20 children each, aged 6–12 years, with a 1-year interval between each age group, were tested and the results were compared with those of 20 adults.ResultsThe results revealed generally poorer performance of children on the entire test battery. Temporal modulation transfer function test scores, word recognition scores, and categorical perception of stop consonants matured by about 10–11 years of age. Gap detection test and time compressed speech test results showed maturation at around 8–9 years of age, whereas temporal change detection continued to mature even for the second decade of life.ConclusionsOverall, maturation of temporal processing skills is reached by 10–11 years of age. This information is relevant when evaluating children with various processing disorders, and should also be considered when developing various assessment and rehabilitation protocols for children with special abilities.

Cantonese Time-Compressed Speech Test: Normative Values for Young Adults

Cantonese is a Chinese dialect spoken by over 50 million speakers in China and around the world. However, few Cantonese assessment tools for (central) auditory processing disorders are available. One common auditory processing assessment tool presented to English language listeners is time-compressed speech. The present study aimed at creating a prototype time-compressed speech test in Cantonese and developing initial normative data for this population. Fifty young Cantonese-speaking adults participated in the study. Three lists of bisyllabic Cantonese words with 0%, 45%, and 65% time compression rates were presented. Over 95% correct word recognition scores at all three compression rates were found. Word recognition scores were very similar for 0% and 45% compression lists but a relatively large standard deviation and slight mean drop in performance was noted for the 65% compression list. There was no significant difference between left and right ears or between genders. These results were comparable to previous studies of time-compressed speech performance for normal hearing listeners in other languages. From the findings, it was concluded that 45% is an appropriate time compression rate· for evaluating the auditory closure abilities of Cantonese-speaking individuals and that a Cantonese time-compressed speech test may be useful in theclinical diagnosis of (central) auditory processing disorders in Cantonese speaking individuals.

EFFECT OF SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS ON THE TIME-COMPRESSED SPEECH TEST

BackgroundThe comprehension of spoken language is based on the analysis of complex acoustic signals by the central auditory system. Cognitive declines and deficits in speech understanding are seen in aged individuals and also in the hearing impaired. The Time-Compressed Speech Test is a low redundancy central auditory processing test that evaluates the closure ability to recognise degraded acoustic speech, words, or sentences.Material and MethodsIn this work, we evaluated the difficulties in understanding compressed speech. Volunteer patients, both with normal hearing and with hearing loss, took part in the experiments. Also a group of hearing aid users were included. The stimuli consisted of speech words that were either unmodified in duration or time-compressed and presented at the most comfortable level.ResultsAn inverse relationship was seen between the compression ratio and the capacity to identify correctly the words presented. Compressed words were worse perceived by hearing-aid users than by patients with flat audiograms and with a high-frequency hearing loss.ConclusionsIn patients with a flat audiogram, a deficit in the mechanism of temporal resolution exists. Furthermore, hearing aids facilitate the audibility of sound even though they do not act efficiently with speech at high ratios of presentation.

TIME-COMPRESSED SPEECH TEST IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE

The time-compressed speech test has existed since the 1970s. It is sensitive for evaluating auditory closure. However, it is not used in Brazil because until recently, it had not been developed in Portuguese. To develop a compressed speech test in Portuguese, to apply it to normal-hearing adults, and to verify which of the compressed lists (50%, 60%, or 70%) is the most appropriate to be part of a set of auditory processing tests. 144 normal-hearing adults, distributed homogeneously between both genders, were assessed. The compressed speech tests were applied using monosyllables and disyllables according to 8 previously established sequences, and the results were compared with respect to the initial ear, to the order of presentation, and to the kind of test. There were no significant differences between ears. The 50%, 60% and 70% presentation order produced a better average of correct responses than the 70%, 60% and 50% one. There was a significant difference (P <.001) between the results of the tests comprising lists of monosyllables compared to those comprising disyllables. In both tests (with monosyllables and disyllables) the average of correct responses decreased as the compression increased. The monosyllabic and disyllabic lists with 60% compression appeared to be more stable than the others, with the average of correct responses around 90%.

The performance of South African English first and second adult speakers on a "low linguistically loaded" central auditory processing test protocol

The lack of standardized tests for central auditory processing disorders (CAPD) in South Africa (SA) led to the formation of a SA CAPD Taskforce, and the interim development of a "Low Linguistically Loaded" CAPD test protocol using test recordings from the 'Tonal and Speech Materials for Auditory Perceptual Assessment Disc 2.0'. This study compared the performance of 50 SA English first language child speakers (aged 8 to 12 years of age) on this protocol, with the previously published American normative data of Bellis (1996, 2003). Results with respect to predicted pass criteria as calculated by mean-2SD cutoffs, suggested that the SA speakers performed of a lower level than the American speakers by an average of 5.3% per ear for the two pair dichotic digits test, 1.9 dB for the masking level difference test, 8.8% per ear for the frequency pattern test--humming report, 14.5% per ear for the frequency patterns test--verbal report, and 39.7% per ear for the low pass filtered speech test. Consequently, the Bellis (1996, 2003) data was not considered appropriate for immediate use as normative data in SA. Instead, the preliminary data provided in this study was recommended as interim normative data for SA English first language child speakers until larger scale SA normative data can be obtained.

Maximum Length Sequences-Auditory Brainstem Responses from Children with Auditory Processing Disorders

This study was designed to evaluate maximum length sequences-auditory brainstem responses (MLS-ABR) in children with auditory processing disorders and to compare these results with a normal control group matched for age, intelligence, and gender. Although each waveform was analyzed for the presence of waves I, III, and V, the primary focus was wave V. Although absolute latency measures for wave V were obtained from all subjects, waves I and III were not always identified. Although the results showed latency increases for all waveforms in both groups, the only significant difference noted was an increase in wave V latency for both the left and right ears in the clinical group. These results suggest that the MLS-ABR may be useful in the assessment of auditory processing disorders. Implications for the potential use of the MLS-ABR in management programs are discussed.