The Use of Homotonic Monosyllabic Words in the Persian Language for the Word-in-Noise Perception Test

Abstract

Background and Aim: Speech perception is an important auditory need. A test that can evaluate the function of the auditory brain in discovering consonants and understanding meanings in Persian language is necessary. Therefore, this study aims to determine the norm values of the Word-in-Noise Perception (WINP) test for Iranian people aged 18–25 years. Methods: In this study, participants were 101 people with normal hearing, stress level, night sleep, and mini-mental states. The measures were the 28-item general health questionnaire, mini-mental state examination, Petersburg sleep quality index, acoustic immittance assessment, pure tone audiometry, speech reception threshold evaluation, and the WINP test with Homotonic-Monosyllabic Words (HMWs). Data analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The mean scores of the WINP test at three Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNRs) of 0, +5, +10 dB were 53.14%, 68.15%, 88.70% for the right ear; 52.95%, 67.83%, 88.13% for the left ear; and 53%, 68%, 88% for both ears, respectively. The mean scores of the right ear were higher than those of the left ear, and the women’s scores were higher compared to men; however, the differences were not statically significant. Conclusion: By using the WINP test with the HMWs, it is possible to evaluate the function of the auditory brain in understanding the consonants in Persian language. The WINP test scores are similar between both ears and both sexes. Keywords: Speech perception; noise; lexical; semantic