Auditory Recognition of Words-in-Noise in Normal Hearing and Mild-to-Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss with Different Configurations

Background and Aim: Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) reduces audibility and causes distortion, which result in difficulty with speech processing, especially in noisy environments. One of the new speech-in-noise tests is the Words-in-Noise (WIN) test. This study aimed to further investigate the Signal-to-Noise Ratio 50% (SNR-50) in subjects with mild to severe SNHL and different configurations using the Persian version of the WIN test compared to normal-hearing people. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 54 patients with SNHL aged 17– 75 years and 49 normal-hearing people aged 20–48 years. The auditory recognition in the presence of multi-talker babble noise was evaluated by the Persian version of the WIN test (named ARWIN). Results: The mean SNR-50 in the normal-hearing group was 2.56±1.2 dB, which increased significantly in subgroups with mild (10.13±4.8 dB), moderate (14.51±4.7 dB) and moderate-to-severe (16.61±4.3 dB) SNHL (p<0.001). Conclusion: People with SNHL need more SNR by nearly 4–6 times than the normal- hearing group for recognition of monosyllabic Persian words in the presence of multi-talker babble noise.   Keywords: Sensorineural hearing loss; words-in-noise; auditory recognition; speech perception