The word-with-noise test: test-retest reliability in normal-hearing adults.
Lidiéli Dalla Costa, Ana Valéria de Almeida Vaucher, Maristela Julio Costa
PMID 38597550WHAT IT FOUND
Repeating the Words-with-Noise test 14 to 28 days later in normal-hearing adults gave fairly consistent results, better for single-word lists.
Average differences were under 1 dB, so it may help assessment but not precise before-after comparisons.
Key findings
01Repeating the test gave good reliability for single-word lists and moderate reliability for two-word lists.
02Test and retest scores differed significantly, but the average difference was less than 1 dB.
03Most results were stable or improved at retest: 90% (81) for single-word lists and 80% (72) for two-word lists.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study tested only normal-hearing adults aged 19 to 44 with no hearing complaints, right-handedness, and at least primary education, so it says nothing about people with hearing loss, children, older adults, or people with neurological or cognitive disorders. The sample was convenience-based and 45 participants were analysed, slightly below the suggested more than 50 for test-retest reliability, although above the minimum 20 participants for the reliability analysis. Test and retest scores differed significantly, so small score changes should not be treated as real change. The study assessed reliability only, not whether the WWN test correctly identifies speech-in-noise difficulty in patients.
Declared interests
The authors reported no financial support and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the good or moderate reliability as evidence that the WWN test identifies speech-in-noise difficulty in patients. It was tested only in normal-hearing adults, and retest scores differed significantly, although by less than 1 dB.