Speech reception thresholds using conventional vs high-frequency spondees in normals and in subjects with marked high-frequency sensorineural loss.

Spondee threshold (ST) estimates were obtained on 20 normal-hearing adults and 15 adults with high-frequency sensorineural hearing losses sloping off above 500 c/s at about 15-20 db/oct. Stimuli consisted of tapes of a woman's voice speaking permuted lists of 9 conventional (broadband) spondees and of 10 high-frequency-emphasis spondees developed especially for this research using a discrete-frequency analysis. For normals, the correspondence was good between the 3-frequency (.5, 1, 2 kc/s) PTA vs either list. However, for the sensorineural Ss, the mean ST for the conventional spondees was better matched to the 2-frequency PTA (av. of 2 best of .5, 1, 2 kc/s), while the high-frequency-emphasis list STs were better matched to the 3-frequency PTA. It was suggested that high-frequency-emphasis STs be used with such sloping losses and that ST-PTA reliability checks for such Ss be comparisons using a +/- 5-db criterion comparing high-frequency-emphasis STs with 3-frequency PTA. If conventional STs are collected, they should with such Ss be compared to the individual's 2-frequency PTA.