To measure the impact of hearing protectors on the perception of speech in noise.

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To measure the impact of hearing protectors on the perception of speech in noise.

Int J Audiol. 2015 Feb;54 Suppl 1:S3-8

Authors: Hiselius P, Edvall N, Reimers D

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To propose and evaluate a new method for assessing the potential impact on speech intelligibility when wearing a hearing protection device (HPD) in a noisy environment.
DESIGN: The method is based on a self adaptive method for finding the speech reception threshold (SRT) using speech material from the Callsign acquisition test (CAT) presented at a constant level while adjusting the level of a background noise. A key point is to primarily examine the impact of the HPD; i.e. the difference between occluded and unoccluded SRTs, presented as the speech intelligibility impact level.
STUDY SAMPLE: A total of 31 test subjects.
RESULTS: The method is shown to be stable, with a minimum amount of learning effect, and capable of detecting differences between hearing protection devices. It is also shown that low-attenuation passive HPDs are likely to have a very small effect on speech intelligibility in noise, and that an electronic HPD with a level-dependant function has the potential to improve intelligibility.
CONCLUSIONS: The results are encouraging regarding the precision, repeatability, and applicability of the proposed method.

PMID: 25549165 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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