title: Assessing speech perception in children with hearing loss: what conventional clinical tools may miss.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study tested the hypothesis that word recognition in a complex, two-talker masker is more closely related to real-world speech perception for children with hearing loss than testing performed in quiet or steady-state noise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen school-age hearing aid users were tested on aided word recognition in noise or two-talker speech. Unaided estimates of speech perception in quiet were retrospectively obtained from the clinical record. Ten parents completed a questionnaire regarding their children's ease of communication and understanding in background noise.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Unaided performance in quiet was correlated with aided performance in competing noise, but not in two-talker speech. Only results in the two-talker masker were correlated with parental reports of their children's functional hearing abilities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Speech perception testing in a complex background such as two-talker speech may provide a more accurate predictor of the communication challenges of children with hearing loss than testing in steady noise or quiet.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Allied Health Sciences, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; and 2Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hillock-Dunn
authors.forename: Crystal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Buss
authors.forename: Lori J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Leibold
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001302:Audiometry, Speech / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D013067:Speech Perception