Clinical and Experimental Audiology, ENT Department, Academic Medical Centre (AMC), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Int J Audiol. 2011 Nov;50(11):823-34. doi: 10.3109/14992027.2011.595016.
In the Netherlands three internet-based self-screening tests have been developed; the National Hearing Test (NHT), Earcheck (EC), and Occupational Earcheck (OEC). These tests are adaptive speech-in-noise tests using either digit triplets or monosyllables, presented in stationary speech-shaped noise. These tests can be highly valuable in increasing the awareness and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). This study evaluates these online speech-in-noise tests and investigates their potential to detect NIHL.
In a multi-centre study the results of the three online screening tests are compared to pure-tone audiometry and to the Dutch sentence SRT test ( Plomp & Mimpen, 1979a ), which is considered the clinical standard.
In total, 49 normal-hearing listeners and 49 patients with different degrees of NIHL participated.
The online tests show good reliability, but there is much overlap in outcomes between normal-hearing listeners and participants with early NIHL. In addition, rather low correlations of the test results with both the Dutch sentence SRT test and pure-tone thresholds are found. These findings result in rather low test sensitivity: 54% (NHT) and 51% (EC), or low specificity: 49% (OEC).
The online screening tests in their current form are unsuitable to be used for early NIHL screening purposes.
在荷兰,已经开发了三种基于互联网的自我筛查测试,即国家听力测试(NHT)、耳检(EC)和职业耳检(OEC)。这些测试是使用数字三音节或单音节的自适应语音噪声测试,在固定的语音噪声中呈现。这些测试在提高对噪声性听力损失(NIHL)的认识和预防方面非常有价值。本研究评估了这些在线语音噪声测试,并研究了它们检测 NIHL 的潜力。
在一项多中心研究中,将三种在线筛查测试的结果与纯音测听和荷兰句子 SRT 测试(Plomp & Mimpen,1979a)进行比较,后者被认为是临床标准。
共有 49 名听力正常的听众和 49 名不同程度的 NIHL 患者参加。
在线测试显示出良好的可靠性,但听力正常的听众和早期 NIHL 参与者的测试结果之间存在很大的重叠。此外,测试结果与荷兰句子 SRT 测试和纯音阈值的相关性都较低。这些发现导致测试灵敏度较低:54%(NHT)和 51%(EC),或特异性较低:49%(OEC)。
目前形式的在线筛查测试不适合用于早期 NIHL 筛查目的。