What is Speech Audiometry Test: Speech Audiometry includes Speech Awareness/Detection Thresholds (SDT/SAT), Speech Reception/Recognition Thresholds (SRT), Word Recognition Testing/Score (WRS), and sensitized speech testing (filtered, compressed, speech in noise, etc.) and is used to evaluate hearing sensitivity and speech perception ability and for site-of-lesion testing.

Speech audiometry is the procedure used in the assessment of an individual’s threshold of hearing for speech.

As the principal avenue of human communication and interaction, it is clear that speech is the most important signal we hear. Consequently, the Pure Tone Audiogram provides only a partial picture of the patient’s auditory status because it does not give any direct information about his ability to hear and understand speech. To find out how a patient hears speech involves testing him with speech stimuli, and this process is called Speech Audiometry.

Instrument used for Speech Audiometry Test:

What is Speech Audiometry Test The instrument used for speech audiometry test is the speech audiometer. Although devices designed specifically for Speech Audiometry (Speech Mode/Channel of a clinical Audiometer) were used in the past, this function is now incorporated into general-purpose clinical audiometers.

Historical perspective of Speech Audiometry Test:

Speech audiometry refers to procedures that use speech stimuli to assess auditory function (Konkle and Rintelmann, 1983). Since the classic work of Carhart (1951), speech audiometry has involved the assessment of sensitivity for speech as well as assessment of clarity when speech is heard. These concepts were described by Plomp (1978), in his framework of hearing loss, as an audibility component (i.e., loss of sensitivity) and a distortion component (i.e., loss of clarity). The audibility component is quantified through assessment of speech recognition abilities in quiet. The distortion component is a reduction in the ability to understand speech, especially in a background of noise, regardless of the presentation level. Quantifying the distortion component typically involves percent correct recognition at Suprathreshold Levels for the Speech Recognition Score (SRS). More recently, the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) at which 50% correct recognition is achieved has been recommended instead of the traditional SRS (Killion et al., 2004; Wilson, 2003).

References:

⇒ https://www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589935335&section=Assessment#Speech_Audiometry
⇒ https://www.ishaindia.org.in/pdf/Guidelines-Standard-Audiometric-Screening-Procedures.PDF
⇒ Essentials of Audiology – Stanley A. Gelfand, PhD (Book)
⇒ Handbook of Clinical Audiology – JACK KATZ, Ph.D. (Book)

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What is Speech Audiometry Test