title: Development and validation of the Leuven intelligibility sentence test with male speaker (LIST-m).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In addition to the LIST with a female speaker ( van Wieringen & Wouters, 2008 ), a new speech perception test with a male voice was developed and validated, for evaluating the intelligibility performance of cochlear implant (CI) users or severely hearing-impaired persons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three experimental steps were carried out: (1) a perceptual optimization of the recorded materials, (2) an evaluation in normal-hearing (NH) listeners, and (3) a validation in CI-users. Measurements were performed both in quiet and in noise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four NH subjects and six CI-users participated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After selecting the sentences with a similar intelligibility, the reference psychometric curve for NH listeners was determined, showing steep slopes for measurements in quiet (12.3%/dB) and in noise (18.7%/dB), similar to the LIST with female voice. The 38 lists of 10 sentences yielded equal scores, and the within-subject test-retest reliability was high (1.7 dB in quiet, 1.1 dB in noise). For the CI-users, parallel psychometric curves were found between the LIST with male and female voice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The LIST-m is a reliable and valid speech intelligibility test that can be used for CI-users, both in quiet and in noise.
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Department of Neurosciences, ExpORL , Leuven , Belgium.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koning
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wouters
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Wieringen
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001302:Audiometry, Speech / Q000379:methods*; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult