Measure of Auditory Working Memory Span Using Monosyllabic Word Recognition Test in Young Adults With Normal Hearing: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Purpose: Measuring working memory at hearing clinics is important. This study attempted to develop a test protocol that measures auditory working memory using a standardized monosyllabic word list in Korean Speech Audiometry (KSA). Method: We included 25 young adults with normal hearing in this study. Participants conducted word recognition and word span tests concurrently using the KSA monosyllabic word lists. We designed four test conditions according to the presence or absence of background noise and word recall order: quiet-forward (QF), quiet-backward (QB), noise-forward, (NF), and noise-backward (NB). We implemented digit span tests in the Korean Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–IV (K-WAIS-IV) to determine the validity of the working memory outcomes. Results: Word recognition scores of QF and QB were significantly higher than those of NF and NB. The percentages of correctly recalled words and word recall span scores were highest in QF and lowest in NB. Overall, the Pearson correlation and multiple regression statistics showed that our word span test outcomes for QB and NF were highly associated with digit span scores on the K-WAIS-IV. Conclusion: Our proposed test protocol showed the possibility of measuring auditory working memory and monosyllabic word recognition simultaneously by validating the results with K-WAIS-IV outcomes.