The word-with-noise test: development, validation and reference values.
Lidiéli Dalla Costa, Ana Valéria de Almeida Vaucher, Karina Carlesso Pagliarin and 1 others
PMID 38836822WHAT IT FOUND
The Word-with-Noise test reliably distinguishes people with hearing loss who struggle in noise from normal-hearing listeners.
It uses a fixed 55 dBHL noise background to find the speech threshold, taking about nine minutes per ear to administer.
Key findings
01The test successfully separated normal-hearing subjects from those with hearing loss and complaints of difficulty recognizing speech in noise, with high statistical accuracy.
02Reference values (cut-offs) were established for monosyllabic and disyllabic words, allowing clinicians to identify when a patient's performance indicates difficulty with speech in noise.
03Participants performed better on disyllabic words than monosyllabic words, regardless of hearing status, suggesting disyllables provide more auditory clues.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only included participants with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, so the test's validity for severe or profound hearing loss is unknown. The sample size for the hearing loss group was small (12 participants), which may limit the generalizability of the reference values. The test was developed and validated only for Brazilian Portuguese speakers, so cultural and linguistic factors may affect its applicability in other languages. The noise level was fixed at 55 dBHL; using different noise levels invalidates the reference values.
Declared interests
Nothing declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these reference values if you change the noise level from 55 dBHL or alter the test administration protocol. The validity of the cut-off scores depends strictly on following the standardized procedure described in the study.