Original Research

Evaluating a smartphone digits-in-noise test as part of the audiometric test battery

Jenni-Mari Potgieter, De Wet Swanepoel, Cas Smits
South African Journal of Communication Disorders | Vol 65, No 1 | a574 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajcd.v65i1.574 | © 2018 Jenni-Mari Potgieter, De Wet Swanepoel, Cas Smits | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 27 August 2017 | Published: 21 May 2018

About the author(s)

Jenni-Mari Potgieter, Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
De Wet Swanepoel, Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Ear Sciences Centre, School of Surgery, University of Western Australia, Ear Science Institute Australia, Australia
Cas Smits, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Section Ear and Hearing, the Netherlands; Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, VU University Medical Center, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Background: Speech-in-noise tests have become a valuable part of the audiometric test battery providing an indication of a listener’s ability to function in background noise. A simple digits-in-noise (DIN) test could be valuable to support diagnostic hearing assessments, hearing aid fittings and counselling for both paediatric and adult populations.

 

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the South African English smartphone DIN test’s performance as part of the audiometric test battery.

 

Design: This descriptive study evaluated 109 adult subjects (43 male and 66 female subjects) with and without sensorineural hearing loss by comparing pure-tone air conduction thresholds, speech recognition monaural performance scores (SRS dB) and the DIN speech reception threshold (SRT). An additional nine adult hearing aid users (four male and five female subjects) were included in a subset to determine aided and unaided DIN SRTs.

 

Results: The DIN SRT is strongly associated with the best ear 4 frequency pure-tone average (4FPTA) (rs = 0.81) and maximum SRS dB (r = 0.72). The DIN test had high sensitivity and specificity to identify abnormal pure-tone (0.88 and 0.88, respectively) and SRS dB (0.76 and 0.88, respectively) results. There was a mean signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement in the aided condition that demonstrated an overall benefit of 0.84 SNR dB.

 

Conclusion: The DIN SRT was significantly correlated with the best ear 4FPTA and maximum SRS dB. The DIN SRT provides a useful measure of speech recognition in noise that can evaluate hearing aid fittings, manage counselling and hearing expectations.


Keywords

digits-in-noise; speech-in-noise; hearing test; hearing loss; smartphone; hearing screening; diagnostic; audiometry

Metrics

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Crossref Citations

1. The digit triplet test: a scoping review
Elien Van den Borre, Sam Denys, Astrid van Wieringen, Jan Wouters
International Journal of Audiology  vol: 60  issue: 12  first page: 946  year: 2021  
doi: 10.1080/14992027.2021.1902579