Speech on speech perception in individuals with hearing loss

The aim of this study is to compare the performance of target speech perception in single-speaker background noise between normal-hearing adults and hearing-impaired adults who use bilateral hearing aids, as well as to evaluate their ability to utilize sound difference cues while perceiving target speech. The study included a control group of 30 normal-hearing adults aged 19-52 (mean age: 31,4 ± 9,4) and a study group of 30 hearing-impaired adults aged 18-62 who used hearing aids in both ears (mean age: 36,3 ±12,6). The materials used in the study were developed in collaboration between Hacettepe University and the University of Groningen, and the testing took place at the University of Groningen. The test consisted of a total of 91 stages. The target sentences included three different signal-to-noise ratios (-6 dB, 0 dB, +6 dB) and four different acoustic sound differences (Same, ΔF0, ΔVTL, ΔF0+VTL) combinations, as well as a control condition with no background noise, comprising seven sentences. Following the listening task, the participants' response accuracy scores were compared between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired adults based on signal-to-noise ratio and acoustic sound differences. Data analysis and visual graphics were conducted using R (version 4.2.3 R Core Team, 2020). Scores were reported based on accuracy rates (0-1). The performance of both groups was examined based on the signal-to-noise ratio, and a Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was applied for statistical analysis. A cubic regression was applied to the GAM model for each group, with the parameter k set to 3, and all modeling was done according to the restricted maximum likelihood method. The findings indicated that speech discrimination scores increased with increasing target-to-masker ratio (TMR) and increasing sound cues. However, a significant difference was observed between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners (p<0,05).