Impact Of İncreased Phonem Intensity With Sensorineural Hearing LOSS Patients On Speech Discrimination Score

Objective: In this study, our aim is to achieve better results in speech discrimination scores (SD) and to increase speech discrimination in patients with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Methods: This study was carried out with 80 individuals with SNHL between the ages of 18-80 who applied to Başkent University Hospital ENT Department in 2021. The routine speech discrimination test applied in the clinic was performed on individuals with bilateral sensorineural type mild and moderate hearing loss who applied to the ENT clinic and after the audiological evaluation, and their scores were determined. Afterwards, the plain forms of the words recorded in the sound studio (1st version) were listened to as the 1st measurement, and the phonemes with increased intensities (2nd version) were listened to the patients as the 2nd measurement. 1st SD and 2nd SD were determined. Results: The study was carried out with 80 individuals. 49 (61.3%) of the participants were female and 31 (38.8%) were male. 31 individuals with moderate hearing loss and 49 individuals with mild hearing loss were included in the study. Although right SD 1st measurement (48.60±23.24) was higher than right SD 2nd measurement scores (37.08±23.73), it was observed that the relevant difference was not statistically significant (p=0.610). Similarly, the difference in the 1st and 2nd measurement scores in the left ear was not statistically significant (p=0.822). Conclusion: As a result of study, our expectation was that the intelligibility of speech would increase in the 2nd measurements. However, there was no increase in this direction and SD decreased as a result of the 2nd measurements. Better results can be achieved by improving the technique used during recording. Systems that can be used in hearing aid technologies for speech intelligibility of patients can be developed. For this, it has been seen that more comprehensive and detailed studies are needed.