Predicting Speech-in-Noise Recognition From Performance on the Trail Making Test

Abstract

Short summary (100 words)The purpose of the study was to investigate the relation between performance on the Trail Making Test and speech-in-noise recognition. All tests were administered over the internet and a sample of 1509 adults aged between 18 and 91 years old was recruited. The results of the study indicate that better performance in the TMT is associated with better speech-innoise recognition scores. This association was not limited to the higher order processes indexed in the TMT-B test but was also observed in relation to performance in the simple TMT-A test, thought to index processing speed. 3 ABSTRACT (250 words)Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the utility of an internet-based version of the trail making test to predict performance on a speech in noise perception task Design: Data were taken from a sample of 1509 listeners aged between 18 and 91 years old.Participants completed computerized versions of the Trail Making Test and an adaptive speech-in-noise recognition test. All testing was conducted via the internet. Results:The results indicate that better performance on both the simple and complex subtests of the TMT are associated with better speech-in-noise recognition scores. 38 percent of the participants had scores on the speech in noise test that indicated the presence of a hearing loss. Conclusions:The findings suggest that the TMT may be a useful tool in the assessment, and possibly the treatment, of speech-recognition difficulties. The results indicate that the relation between speech-in-noise recognition and TMT performance relates both to the capacity of the TMT to index processing speed and to the more complex cognitive abilities also implicated in TMT performance.

Speech-in-speech perception and executive function involvement

“…This result is consistent with the idea that the semantic priming effect obtained in the ignored condition was underlined by the shift in auditory attention from the attended channel to the ignored channel [47,63]. These results are in line with the idea that switching abilities are strongly involved and very useful during the processing of complex auditory scenes and in particular in speech-in-noise and speech-in-speech situations [34]. …”

“…Other executive components could be involved in SiS comprehension [34]. In a full three-factor model, EFs were described as a set of three components that all correlated with each other, i.e., updating, switching and inhibition [35].…”

From Detection to Intervention Psychological Aspects of Online Hearing Rehabilitation

“…Although previously theorized to load on separate cognitive abilities (Alloway et al, 2004) the result of our study does not support that notion. In a separate publication, we further analysed the relationship between the TMT and hearing ability in noise (Ellis et al, 2016). We found that processing speed accounted for a large portion of the contribution of the TMT in relationship to hearing performance, and that the "higher" cognitive functions that are loaded in the more complex TMT presentations have a very small, but significant, relationship to hearing performance.…”

“…Thereafter, in the B part, numbers and letters are both included in the stimulus material and the participant is tasked with altering between symbols in the line drawing, thus making a line between 1 to A to 2 to B and so forth. In a separate publication, the optimal way of scoring this version in relation to hearing ability was determined to be the time it takes to complete the B version of the test (Ellis et al, 2016). Recruitment to the online screening was performed using advertisement in the national press.…”

Elderly listeners' identification of Japanese long vowel pair `obasan' and `obaasan' using pitch and duration

“…The trail making test (TMT) was chosen as it has been shown that TMT measures executive functions such as task switching, which predicts relative difficulty in understanding accented speech in older adults [21] and young adults [22], as well as speech in noise recognition [23]. A TMT programme was written specifically to be administered on a touch-screen for the participants to carry out the test and to measure the time to complete the test more meticulously.…”