Italian Fast Speech Reception Threshold Test: A New Method to Investigate Adult Auditory Impairment in Noise

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Purpose of our study was to compare two competing methods of performing bisyllabic word speech audiometry for the detection of the 50% speech reception threshold in noise (SRT50). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Classic method is performed submitting multiple word lists at a fixed signal-to-noise ratio. A newer Fast method – Italian Fast Speech Reception Threshold 50 (IFastSRT50) – is performed by means of program software with a single list of bisyllabic words and noise intensity shifting. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Means comparison between SRT50 Classic and IFastSRT50 shows a slight significant correlation (<i>r</i> = 0.263; <i>p</i> = 0.044) and a wide significant difference: SRT50 Classic = −2.763 dB (SD = 4.1) and IFastSRT50 = −7.803 dB (SD = 2.1) (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001). There is a high difference between the test execution time means (SRT50 Classic = 11 min, IFastSRT50 = 2 min; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.0001). The correlation between test results and execution times was higher for SRT50 Classic than IFastSRT50. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> IFastSRT50 test is a reliable method to quickly investigate signal-to-noise ratio needed to obtain 50% of recognition scores with bisyllabic words; it allows less execution time than SRT50 Classic method and can avoid patient fatigue and other limitations of different speech discrimination tests in noise as sentences based ones.