The development of an Afrikaans test for sentence recognition thresholds in noise

OBJECTIVE: The development of a valid and reliable Afrikaans test of sentence recognition thresholds in noise. DESIGN: A collection of sentences was developed, rated for naturalness and grammatical complexity, and digitally recorded using a female speaker. Sentences found to have similar psychometric curve slopes, with equivalent intelligibility at three different noise levels, were arranged into 22 phonemically matched lists of ten sentences each. List equivalence was evaluated in normal-hearing listeners in full and reduced bandwidth conditions. Test-retest reliability of the remaining lists was evaluated in a second group of listeners. STUDY SAMPLE: All listeners were native speakers of Afrikaans with normal hearing. For evaluation of list equivalence, ten listeners were used. Twenty other listeners were used to evaluate test-retest reliability. RESULTS: A collection of eighteen phonemically matched lists was produced. Lists were found to be of equivalent difficulty in full and reduced bandwidth conditions, and to have good test-retest reliability in normal-hearing listeners. The average recognition threshold of these lists was -2.73 dB signal-to-noise ratio (standard deviation = 0.64 dB), and within-subject variability was 1.22 dB. CONCLUSIONS: The developed test provides a valid and reliable means of measuring sentence recognition thresholds in noise in Afrikaans.This project was financially supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa

Dispensing Rates of Four Common Hearing Aid Product Features: Associations With Variations in Practice Among Audiologists

The purpose of the study was to develop and examine a list of potential variables that may account for variability in the dispensing rates of four common hearing aid features. A total of 29 potential variables were identified and placed into the following categories: (1) characteristics of the audiologist, (2) characteristics of the hearing aids dispensed by the audiologist, (3) characteristics of the audiologist?s patient population, and (4) evidence-based practice grades of recommendation for each feature. The potentially associative variables then were examined using regression analyses from the responses of 257 audiologists to a dispensing practice survey. There was a direct relation between price and level of hearing aid technology with the frequency of dispensing product features. There was also a direct relation between the belief by the audiologist that a feature might benefit patients and the frequency of dispensing that feature. In general, the results suggested that personal differences among audiologists and the hearing aids audiologists choose to dispense are related more strongly to dispensing rates of product features than to differences in characteristics of the patient population served by audiologists. An additional finding indicated that evidence-based practice recommendations were inversely related to dispensing rates of product features. This finding, however, may not be the result of dispensing trends as much as hearing aid manufacturing trends