Development and preliminary evaluation of a novel adaptive staircase procedure for automated speech-in-noise testing

Zanet, Marco; Polo, Edoardo Maria; Rocco, Giulia; Paglialonga, Alessia; Barbieri, Riccardo

doi:10.1109/embc.2019.8857492

Cited by 7 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…As a first step to develop an accurate and reliable screening test for use in listeners of unknown language, a novel SIN test has been designed. The proposed test is based on recognition of VCV stimuli in 3AFC format and uses a novel staircase procedure that introduces adaptive upward and downward steps that are based on estimated VCV psychometric curves (Zanet et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Development Of a Novel Staircase Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We have developed a novel staircase procedure that, instead of using pre-determined, equal upward and downward steps on a set of stimuli equalized at the target point, determines ∆up and ∆down adaptively based on the estimated psychometric curves of stimuli (preliminary results were Accepted Manuscript -American Journal of Audiology p. 9 presented in: Zanet, Polo, Rocco, Paglialonga, & Barbieri, 2019). To optimize convergence towards the SRT and limit the number of stimuli presented, ∆up and ∆down are determined by using an optimal ratio ∆down/∆up = 0.74 so that, as suggested by Garcia-Pérez (1998), the procedure can be terminated after 12 reversals and the SRT can be estimated as the average of the SNRs at the midpoints of the last 4 ascending runs (Zanet et al, 2019). To implement the novel procedure, we estimated the theoretical psychometric curves of VCV recordings in the range from -50 to +20 dB SNR in 2 dB steps by computing the Short-Time Objective Intelligibility (STOI) measure (Taal, Hendriks, Heusdens, & Jensen, 2011) and then by fitting the average STOI values obtained over 100 simulated realizations of stimuli plus noise with a cumulative normal model (sigmoid function) (Lyregaard, 1997).…”

Section: Development Of a Novel Staircase Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evaluation of test performance in a group of normal hearing young adults (YA) showed that the proposed test was accurate (i.e., as accurate as conventional staircase procedures) and reliable in repeated measures (i.e., it provided consistent results in test and retest trials) and, also, that it required a shorter test time (i.e., about 2 minutes shorter) than a conventional staircase (Zanet et al, 2019). Thus, results from YA participants suggested that the newly developed staircase procedure may be suitable for applications in which fast and reliable methods are needed, for example in adult hearing screening.…”

Section: Test Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the novel test was able to provide reliable estimates of SRTs in Accepted Manuscript -American Journal of Audiology p. 17 audiometer-controlled and in self-adjusted output levels conditions, yet requiring a shorter time compared to a conventional procedure. Accordingly, the proposed test may be viable for use in uncontrolled environments (either locally or for remote testing) provided that subjects are instructed to adjust the output volume at a comfortable level (Zanet et al, 2019). This is further supported by results from a recent study that showed, by using laboratory measurements of sound pressure levels with a range of consumer transducers, that giving adjusting the output level through the laptop volume can help compensate for the different transducer characteristics, thus further supporting the viability of the test to be used for remote testing.…”

Section: Test Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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An Automated Speech-in-Noise Test for Remote Testing: Development and Preliminary Evaluation

et al. 2020

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Purpose The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a novel, automated speech-in-noise test viable for widespread in situ and remote screening. Method Vowel–consonant–vowel sounds in a multiple-choice consonant discrimination task were used. Recordings from a professional male native English speaker were used. A novel adaptive staircase procedure was developed, based on the estimated intelligibility of stimuli rather than on theoretical binomial models. Test performance was assessed in a population of 26 young adults (YAs) with normal hearing and in 72 unscreened adults (UAs), including native and nonnative English listeners. Results The proposed test provided accurate estimates of the speech recognition threshold (SRT) compared to a conventional adaptive procedure. Consistent outcomes were observed in YAs in test/retest and in controlled/uncontrolled conditions and in UAs in native and nonnative listeners. The SRT increased with increasing age, hearing loss, and self-reported hearing handicap in UAs. Test duration was similar in YAs and UAs irrespective of age and hearing loss. The test–retest repeatability of SRTs was high (Pearson correlation coefficient = .84), and the pass/fail outcomes of the test were reliable in repeated measures (Cohen's κ = .8). The test was accurate in identifying ears with pure-tone thresholds > 25 dB HL (accuracy = 0.82). Conclusion This study demonstrated the viability of the proposed test in subjects of varying language in terms of accuracy, reliability, and short test time. Further research is needed to validate the test in a larger population across a wider range of languages and hearing loss and to identify optimal classification criteria for screening purposes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Development Of a Novel Staircase Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Development Of a Novel Staircase Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Test Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Test Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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An Automated Speech-in-Noise Test for Remote Testing: Development and Preliminary Evaluation

et al. 2020

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Preliminary Evaluation of a Novel Language Independent Speech-in-Noise Test for Adult Hearing Screening

Polo

Zanet

Paglialonga

et al. 2020

8th European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference

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This article presents a preliminary evaluation of a novel language independent Speech-in-Noise test for adult screening in terms of Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) estimates and prediction of hearing sensitivity. The test is based on multiple-choice recognition of meaningless Vowel-Consonant-Vowel words and was administered to 26 normal hearing young adults and 58 unscreened adults who also underwent pure-tone audiometry. Receiver operating characteristics were built using the World Health Organization criteria for "slight/mild" and "moderate" hearing loss as gold standards and SRTs as test outcome. Both curves showed very good test performance in predicting success/failure in pure-tone audiometry (area under the curve: 0.79 for "slight/mild" and 0.83 for "moderate" hearing loss). A complete generalized linear model including SRT, age, and their interaction showed that the SRT and the interaction between SRT and age were significant predictors of pure-tone audiometry outcomes, whereas age alone was not a significant predictor of the degree of hearing loss. Moreover, preliminary results from test-retest data showed that the test was reliable in repeated measures (Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient = 0.72; Cohen's kappa = 0.83 for "slight/mild" and 0.64 for "moderate" hearing loss). Further research is needed to fully assess test performance in a larger sample of participants, also including subjects with higher degrees of hearing loss (e.g. "severe" and "profound").

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Development and Evaluation of a Novel Method for Adult Hearing Screening: Towards a Dedicated Smartphone App

Polo

Zanet

Lenatti

et al. 2021

Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Towards implementation of adult hearing screening tests that can be delivered via a mobile app, we have recently designed a novel speech-in-noise test based on the following requirements: user-operated, fast, reliable, accurate, viable for use by listeners of unknown native language and viable for testing at a distance. This study addresses specific models to (i) investigate the ability of the test to identify ears with mild hearing loss using machine learning; and (ii) address the range of the output levels generated using different transducers. Our results demonstrate that the test classification performance using decision tree models is in line with the performance of validated, language-dependent speechin-noise tests. We observed, on average, 0.75 accuracy, 0.64 sensitivity and 0.81 specificity. Regarding the analysis of output levels, we demonstrated substantial variability of transducers' characteristics and dynamic range, with headphones yielding higher output levels compared to earphones. These findings confirm the importance of a self-adjusted volume option. These results also suggest that earphones may not be suitable for test execution as the output levels may be relatively low, particularly for subjects with hearing loss or for those who skip the volume adjustment step. Further research is needed to fully address test performance, e.g. testing a larger sample of subjects, addressing different classification approaches, and characterizing test reliability in varying conditions using different devices and transducers.

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Development and preliminary evaluation of a novel adaptive staircase procedure for automated speech-in-noise testing

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

An Automated Speech-in-Noise Test for Remote Testing: Development and Preliminary Evaluation

An Automated Speech-in-Noise Test for Remote Testing: Development and Preliminary Evaluation

Preliminary Evaluation of a Novel Language Independent Speech-in-Noise Test for Adult Hearing Screening

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Method for Adult Hearing Screening: Towards a Dedicated Smartphone App

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