title: Do you hear the noise? The German matrix sentence test with a fixed noise level in subjects with normal hearing and hearing impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between hearing loss and speech reception threshold (SRT) in a fixed noise condition using the German Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA).
  
  
  METHODS
  After training with two easily-audible lists of the OLSA, SRTs were determined monaurally with headphones at a fixed noise level of 65 dB SPL using a standard adaptive procedure, converging to 50% speech intelligibility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was obtained from 315 ears of 177 subjects with hearing losses ranging from -5 to 90 dB HL pure-tone average (PTA, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 kHz).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two domains were identified with a linear dependence of SRT on PTA. The SRT increased with a slope of 0.094 ± 0.006 dB SNR/dB HL (standard deviation (SD) of residuals = 1.17 dB) for PTAs < 47 dB HL and with a slope of 0.811 ± 0.049 dB SNR/dB HL (SD of residuals = 5.54 dB) for higher PTAs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The OLSA can be applied to subjects with a wide range of hearing losses. With 65 dB SPL fixed noise presentation level the SRT is determined by listening in noise for PTAs < ∼47 dB HL, and above it is determined by listening in quiet.
authors.affiliation: b Department of Otolaryngology , Hannover Medical School , Hannover , Germany.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wardenga
authors.affiliation: b Department of Otolaryngology , Hannover Medical School , Hannover , Germany.|e MED-EL Medical Electronics , Hannover , Germany.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Batsoulis
authors.affiliation: a * Cluster of Excellence 'Hearing4all' , Hannover & Oldenburg , Germany.|c Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH , Oldenburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Kirsten C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Wagener
authors.affiliation: a * Cluster of Excellence 'Hearing4all' , Hannover & Oldenburg , Germany.|d Department of Medical Physics , Carl-von-Ossietzky-University Oldenburg , Oldenburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brand
authors.affiliation: a * Cluster of Excellence 'Hearing4all' , Hannover & Oldenburg , Germany.|b Department of Otolaryngology , Hannover Medical School , Hannover , Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lenarz
authors.affiliation: a * Cluster of Excellence 'Hearing4all' , Hannover & Oldenburg , Germany.|b Department of Otolaryngology , Hannover Medical School , Hannover , Germany.
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maier
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: German sentence test (OLSA) in noise; Speech reception threshold; discriminative power; matrix sentence test; medical audiology