title: Applications of the NTID speech recognition test (NSRT(®)).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study evaluated the diagnostic capabilities of an adaptive speech recognition protocol (NSRT(®)) that can be self-administered in non-clinical venues by listeners using internet-based software.
  
  
  METHODS
  All participants were given an audiological evaluation, including pure-tone testing, and responded to the NSRT administered in quiet and + 5 dB SNR listening conditions. The NSRT test materials are sentence-length utterances containing phonetic contrasts, primarily minimal pairs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 123 adults with normal hearing to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss (mean age = 55 years, SD = 23).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Performance on the NSRT is strongly related to pure-tone thresholds. Linear regression analyses support the utility of the NSRT as a proxy for clinically-obtained hearing thresholds across the octave frequencies 0.5 to 8 kHz, primarily for individuals in the - 10 to 55 dB HL range. Other NSRT results are linked to analyses of phonetic errors and components of aural rehabilitation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among its numerous results, the NSRT yields quantitative predictions of frequency-specific hearing thresholds, provides insight into the phonetic errors that affect speech understanding in adults who suffer from sensorineural hearing loss, primarily in the - 10 to 55 dB HL range, and has implications for the design of individualized auditory training programs.
authors.affiliation: a National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology , Rochester , USA.
authors.forename: Wayne M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Garrison
authors.affiliation: a National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology , Rochester , USA.
authors.forename: Joseph H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Bochner
mesh_terms: D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception
keywords: Rasch measurement; Speech recognition; adaptive testing; auditory training; hearing thresholds; item response theory; phonetic analysis