Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol.  2012 Apr;5(Suppl 1):S73-S75.

Speech Recognition Performance under Noisy Conditions of Children with Hearing Loss

• Yang HM
• Hsieh YJ
• Wu JL

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
In order to understand the communicative abilities of hearing impaired children in noisy situations and their communication problems, this study was undertaken to examine speech recognition at different background noise levels, and to compare how context cues in noisy situations affect speech recognition.
METHODS
Thirty-four children with severe/profound hearing impairment were enrolled. Fifteen children had cochlear implants (CIs) and 19 used hearing aids (HAs). The Mandarin Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) test was performed under two levels of background noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) 10 dB and SNR 0 dB (high and low levels, respectively). High predictive (HP) and low predictive (LP) sentences SPIN test scores were recorded to test the effect of context cues on speech recognition.
RESULTS
Performance was significantly better in children with CIs (SNR 10: mean, 49.44, standard deviation [SD], 13.90; SNR 0: mean, 31.95, SD, 15.72) than in children with HAs (SNR 10: mean, 33.33, SD, 9.72; SNR 0: mean, 19.52, SD, 6.67; P<0.05) in both noise backgrounds, but no significant interaction was found between devices and background noise level. Hearing-impaired children performed better at SNR 10 dB (mean, 40.44; SD, 14.12) than at SNR 0 dB (mean, 25.0; SD, 12.98), significantly (P<0.001). Performance for HP sentences (mean, 38.6; SD, 12.66) was significantly (P<0.001) better than that for LP sentences (mean, 25.25; SD, 12.93). An interaction was found to between background noise level and contextual cues in sentences (F=8.47, P<0.01).
CONCLUSION
The study shows that SNR conditions significantly influence speech recognition performance in children with severe/profound hearing impairment. Under better SNR listening situations, children have better speech recognition when listening to sentences with contextual cues. Children with CIs perform better than children with HAs at both noise levels.

Keyword

Speech perception; Communication; Noise; Hearing impaired; Children

MeSH Terms

Child
Cochlear Implants
Cues
Hearing
Hearing Aids
Hearing Loss
Humans
Noise
Signal-To-Noise Ratio
Speech Perception

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) performance of children with cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs) under the two conditions. SNR, signal-to-noise ratio.

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  Fig. 2 The Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) performance for high predictability (HP) and low predictability (LP) sentences under the two conditions. SNR, signal-to-noise ratio.

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