title: Development of a test of suprathreshold acuity in noise in Brazilian Portuguese: a new method for hearing screening and surveillance.
abstract: This paper describes the development of a speech-in-noise test for hearing screening and surveillance in Brazilian Portuguese based on the evaluation of suprathreshold acuity performances. The SUN test (Speech Understanding in Noise) consists of a list of intervocalic consonants in noise presented in a multiple-choice paradigm by means of a touch screen. The test provides one out of three possible results: "a hearing check is recommended" (red light), "a hearing check would be advisable" (yellow light), and "no hearing difficulties" (green light) (Paglialonga et al., Comput. Biol. Med. 2014). This novel test was developed in a population of 30 normal hearing young adults and 101 adults with varying degrees of hearing impairment and handicap, including normal hearing. The test had 84% sensitivity and 76% specificity compared to conventional pure-tone screening and 83% sensitivity and 86% specificity to detect disabling hearing impairment. The test outcomes were in line with the degree of self-perceived hearing handicap. The results found here paralleled those reported in the literature for the SUN test and for conventional speech-in-noise measures. This study showed that the proposed test might be a viable method to identify individuals with hearing problems to be referred to further audiological assessment and intervention.
authors.affiliation: São Paulo School of Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Rua Botucatu 802, 04023-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nara
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vaez
authors.affiliation: São Paulo School of Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Rua Botucatu 802, 04023-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Liliane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Desgualdo-Pereira
authors.affiliation: National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Electronics, Computer and Telecommunication Engineering (IEIIT), Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paglialonga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006320:Hearing Tests / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014584:User-Computer Interface