Objective: The aims of the current n200 study were to assess the structural relations between three classes of test variables (i.e. HEARING, COGNITION and aided speech-in-noise OUTCOMES) and to describe the theoretical implications of these relations for the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model. Study sample: Participants were 200 hard-of-hearing hearing-aid users, with a mean age of 60.8 years. Forty-three percent were females and the mean hearing threshold in the better ear was 37.4 dB HL. Design: LEVEL1 factor analyses extracted one factor per test and/or cognitive function based on a priori conceptualizations. The more abstract LEVEL 2 factor analyses were performed separately for the three classes of test variables. Results: The HEARING test variables resulted in two LEVEL 2 factors, which we labelled SENSITIVITY and TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE; the COGNITIVE variables in one COGNITION factor only, and OUTCOMES in two factors, NO CONTEXT and CONTEXT. COGNITION predicted the NO CONTEXT factor to a stronger extent than the CONTEXT outcome factor. TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE and SENSITIVITY were associated with COGNITION and all three contributed significantly and independently to especially the NO CONTEXT outcome scores (R2 = 0.40). Conclusions: All LEVEL 2 factors are important theoretically as well as for clinical assessment.

A Swedish Hearing In Noise Test (HINT), consisting of everyday sentences to be used in an adaptive procedure to estimate the speech recognition thresholds in noise and quiet, has been developed. The material consists of 250 sentences, with a length of five to nine syllables, normalized for naturalness, difficulty and reliability. The sentences were recorded with a female speaker. From the sentences, 25 phonemically balanced lists were created. All lists fluctuate less than 1 dB of the overall mean. The standard deviation of the test-retest difference is 0.94 dB when testing with one list, and decreases to 0.68 dB and 0.56 dB for two and three lists, respectively. The average speech recognition thresholds in noise for the Swedish sentences were -3.0 dB signal/noise ratio (SD=1.1 dB). The present study has resulted in a well-defined and internationally comparable set of sentences, which can be used in Swedish audiological rehabilitation and research to measure speech recognition in noise and quiet.

The purpose of the present study was to examine working memory (WM) capacity, lexical access and phonological skills in 19 children with cochlear implants (CI) (5;7-13;4 years of age) attending grades 0-2, 4, 5 and 6 and to compare their performance with 56 children with normal hearing. Their performance was also studied in relation to demographic factors. The findings indicate that children with CI had visuospatial WM capacities equivalent to the comparison group. They had lower performance levels on most of the other cognitive tests. Significant differences between the groups were not found in all grades and a number of children with CI performed within 1 SD of the mean of their respective grade-matched comparison group on most of the cognitive measures. The differences between the groups were particularly prominent in tasks of phonological WM. The results are discussed with respect to the effects of cochlear implants on cognitive development

Effects of chronologic age in dichotic speech tests in the elderly have been verified. The degree of effect is dependent on test material, way of reporting and focusing condition. The different listening tasks in dichotic tests put different demands on cognitive ability shown by a varying degree of correlations between cognitive function and dichotic test parameters. Also, the results indicate a strong connection between age-related cognitive decline in the elderly and problems to perceive stimuli presented to the left ear.