Abstract-A speech-in-multitalker-babble test instrument was developed for use in a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) multicenter study examining the effects of hearing loss on selfperceived quality of life. Word recognition in quiet and in multitalker babble was measured on 24 listeners with normal hearing and 24 listeners with sensorineural hearing loss. The protocol involved the presentation of 10 monosyllabic words (each in a unique babble segment) at each of seven signal-tobabble (S/B) ratios from 24 dB to 0 dB, with the babble fixed at 60 dB HL (hearing loss). Word recognition in quiet at 60 dB and 80 dB HL for both groups was >90% correct. Two trials on the task were conducted. In babble, the 50% correct points were at 4.1 dB and 9.4 dB S/B for the listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss, respectively, with the 90th percentile for the listeners with normal hearing at 6 dB S/B. Twenty-two of the twenty-four listeners with hearing loss had 50% correct points outside of the 90th percentile for listeners with normal hearing. Test-retest reliability was excellent.

The purpose of this series of experiments was to develop a simple, 500-Hz masking-level difference (MLD) protocol that could be implemented easily in the clinic to assess auditory perceptual abilities using an audio compact disc. Five, 300-ms tones with 250-ms intertone intervals were embedded in 3-s bursts of 200-800 Hz noise presented at 42.2-dB pressure-spectrum level with 4-5 s interstimulus intervals. The homophasic and antiphasic conditions were interleaved with the signal-to-noise ratios decreasing in 2-dB steps. A single-interval, "yes/no" response task was used. Three experiments were performed on 24-28 listeners with normal hearing. The mean SoNo thresholds (58.1- to 59.5-dB SPL) and the mean SpiNo thresholds (45.1- to 46.0-dB SPL) produced approximately 13-dB MLDs. Experiment 3 included a SoNpi condition that had a mean threshold of 48.8-dB SPL and a 10.0-dB MLD. The mean test, retest of the SoNo and SpiNo thresholds on 15 listeners was < 0.5 dB. Over the three experiments, 95% of the listeners had SpiNo MLDs that were > or = 10 dB.