Is Speech Audiometry Very Beneficial?
Well, the answer to that question depends upon the type of testing performed. The speech audiometry protocol as conducted in many clinics consists of testing a patients speech reception threshold (the softest level a patient can recognize two syllable words like baseball and hotdog) and speech recognition (the percentage of words correctly identified among a list of single syllable words like else and by) at a single presentation level in quiet. These tests are useful for the diagnostic purposes of determining the amount and etiology of hearing loss. Still, for the purposes of determining the functional effects of hearing impairment on communication in other than optimum listening environments or how well hearing aids are likely to resolve the patients communication complaints, the speech reception threshold and speech recognition tests, as commonly administered, are not very beneficial. This is not to say that speech recognition testing cannot be useful predictors of speech understand
